The Meaning of Advent (to me)

I have only become aware of the concept of Advent in the most recent years in my Christian walk. As of late, the Advent has become increasingly meaningful to me.

I have for a long time held in my mind the image of John the Baptist (or John the witness) who is ever pointing to the Christ. John the Baptist is the ideal vanguard of the Kingdom of God. He sees the coming glory of God on earth and compels others to react, repent, and prepare themselves for the coming of the Christ who will begin the restoration of order upon the creation that has turned to chaos in the hands of humanity.

The Advent season reminds me of my responsibility to also be a messenger of the good news: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” This imminent shift of the ages from chaos to God’s order and justice is brought to visibility through Jesus who is the Christ—the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. Jesus comes not to overthrow the political and economic systems that have damned and oppressed the people; he is not a political leader nor an economic theorist, he is the inaugurator of the Kingdom. The presence of the Christ demands love and justice for all of humanity; this love and justice causes a break in the structure of the political and economic powers. They cannot stand on a foundation of evil. The right order of God brushes away evil and injustice through the suffering service of one person to another. Jesus lives and dies as the ultimate display of the ethic and lifestyle of the citizen of God’s Kingdom. Jesus has made the kingdom real; it is not a physical kingdom because it is the servanthood of all of humanity to one another as children of God. The siblings of salvation now are to act as representatives and harbingers of the Kingdom of God, which receives its validity and hope in overcoming evil by the power of God in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Being raised from death is a display of God’s power to overcome even the greatest of evils experienced by every person in all classes and cultures. The resurrection gives sight to the ability to overcome the impossible for “with God, nothing is impossible” (cf. gospel of Luke) and the hope to overcome even the greatest of injustices.

Advent means preparing for the coming kingdom; it means pointing ever to the Christ as the tangible sign of God’s presence and power in the world we live in. Advent means living a life the disallows injustices and strives for love and mercy, forgiveness and just action—not for the sake of ourselves but for the glory of God in the restoration of all of creation and humanity into the order that God had created and intended for all.