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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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Advent: expectation and preparation
Advent is the season of longing and expectation and alert watchfulness. All the hymns that are sung, the prayers that are expressed during this season vibrate with a single hope, that Christ will come in glory and establish God's reign on earth. O come O come, Emmanuel, Lo He comes with clouds descending, Hark the glad sound the Saviour comes. In the words of Charles Wesley, "Every eye shall now behold him, robed in dreadful majesty". Advent is about Christ returning in Glory and bringing history to an end. Within this is an element of dread, for what we are waiting for is Christ coming as the Judge of all things. Yet mingled within this dread is the knowledge that He is the Saviour, that Christ has triumph over sin and death on our behalf and we now share in his victory. Because of this we can we can pray one of the most ancient of prayers, "Maranatha" - "Our Lord come" (1 Corinthians 16-22). Traditionally during this season of expectation the church reflects on four themes, Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell which in today's world and culture might appear rather gloomy, but they must be seen in the light of Christ Resurrection and his boundless love. Because of the nature of these themes the church decorations during Advent become simple and spare. There are no flowers in the church and purple is the traditional liturgical colour. The Advent collect found in the Anglican prayer book set for this season invites us all to ‘cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light'. Darkness and light are a central theme to this season. Here in the northern hemisphere, the Advent season falls at the darkness time of the year, candles therefore play an important role in the services. There is the tradition of lighting candles on the Advent wreath Sunday by Sunday. Each candle represents an aspect of God's revelation to his people in the past. The first is for Abraham and the Patriachs, then come the Prophets, followed by John the Baptist and on the fourth Sunday of Advent the candle is lit for the Virgin Mary. During this time there is also an Advent procession where everyone is given a candle in a darkened church and members of the congregation move around the church listening to scriptural readings and poetry speaking of the coming of Christ. As the service progresses the church becomes slowly flooded with light until the climax when the procession has arrived at the High Altar and all the lights are turned on to hear the Gospel reading. The reading is about the wise and foolish virgins, those who where wise enough to keep their lamps lit and trimmed waiting in expectation for the arrival of the Master. The anticipation of Christmas and all the commercial pressures that begin so early have made the sense of watchfulness, being awake for Christ's final arrival, more difficult to sustain. However Advent is primarily a time of reflection on those rather important themes which can so easily be put to one side. If we keep a good Advent then Christmas Day becomes an amazing surprise. |
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