Tomorrow marks the second Sunday in the season of Advent- the time leading up to Christmas where we prepare for the “coming” of Christ and I wonder how well we are actually preparing.

Sure, we’ve all dived head first into the Christmas season: our apartment already smells of pine needles and glistens with the lights adorning our tree. The radio in our SUV has been preset to Christmas music and we’ve been hard-pressed to enter into stores without knowing what holiday is coming.

Yet, how much have we really prepared for the coming of Christ? Christmas, after all, is about a manger more than mistletoe… right? How quickly we get distracted.

I know those that don’t celebrate the Advent season or even Christmas (“Jesus wasn’t even born in December!” they remind us). I think that this is a trivial argument (though I would agree that it does not matter what  actual day Jesus might have been born and we SHOULD celebrate his presence among us every day of the year). Yet, there is something special about marking a day on the calendar each year that can be anticipated.

As I celebrate the Advent season leading up to December 25, I like to think of that first Advent season and what was probably going on:

– Mary, entering in the final weeks of her pregnancy, filled with wonder more and more with each passing day as the beauty of God’s promise became increasingly evident. 

– Joseph, long passed accepting the growing child within Mary as his own, anticipating teaching the coming son how to use a hammer or build a bench. 

– Wise men, scratching their beards as they gaze into the sky in amazement as they try to understand a new star in the west. 

– Shepherds, in their fields with no idea that they would soon be chosen to witness the Messiah’s coming. The last becoming first…  

Each of these characters had no idea of what that first Christmas would really bring, how it would change their lives yet, there was a special anticipation at the coming of the baby Jesus.

In the present, we know both the hope of the manger and the pain of the cross. We have the ability to see the joyful beginnings of Jesus’ birth and the sad moments of his death. Perhaps, with this knowledge our anticipation should be even greater. Like a child hardly able to sleep on Christmas Eve night because of the promise of the morning, we should be squirming in our seats with excitement as we move closer and closer to Christmas day.

Christ is coming, God is soon to be among us. I believe that the greatest gift of Christmas is this season where we get to anticipate it- where we, with excitement, look forward to the great change that is coming in the world and in our lives.

This Advent season, where does your excitement lie? What are you really looking forward to?

Christ IS coming, let’s prepare ourselves for the hope of that moment.

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“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means, ‘God with us.’)” – Matthew 1:23, NIV.