Advent has come…again! As you no doubt have heard every year at this time, the word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia (which usually refers to the Second Coming). So, there you go, the “Coming” has “come” again. Odd, isn’t it? What is often missed during these four weeks of Advent is that Advent is both expectation and remembrance. Christ will “come again.” “…Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:27-28). In some ways the church is like Israel at the end of the Old Testament, in exile, waiting, praying, remembering God’s great historic acts while yearning for the Messiah. We too remember that Christ has come, but fulfillment of the Kingdom is yet future. Our Covenant Advent devotional guide is entitled “Bearing the Wait.” And indeed we do. We live as the people of God, in this world but not of it, living as light in darkness, perhaps mourning that the darkness does not comprehend it (John 1:5), but not overcome. Hear the heart in this Advent Hymn:
“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.”