2024 Week 51

Hello, Springers!

What’s the difference between Advent and Christmas? Does it matter?

Advent is that time at the beginning of the old church calendar when we look back to Christ’s first coming in order to prepare for his second coming. Advent is about the prophesied Messiah and the hope of God’s people looking forward to his arrival.

Christmas, on the other hand, is the time when we celebrate Jesus Christ as the one who came. The twelve days of Christmas are not merely a fun song to sing, but a time to consider who it is that came and why it is important.

Advent gives Christians a time to look forward to the fact that Christ will come again. Christmas gives Christians a time to pay attention to who Jesus is as both fully human and fully divine.

I don’t want to complain because I love the colored lights and decorations of the season, but we miss something when we run together all the days after Halloween through December 26 and call it Christmastime or the Holiday Season. The economics of the season are neither here nor there for me. Having a reason to gather together as family and friends is a good thing, too. But recovering something about the original spiritual calendar design could benefit us most of all.

The longing of Advent should move us to find comfort in the places of longing described in God’s word. We long to be free from our own sin and the broken areas of creation. We long to understand ourselves and to be understood by someone who loves us unconditionally. We long to never be parted by death from those we love.

Christmas is a promise. The people of God have hope in their God, the one who came from heaven to earth in order to take on their sin and shame, in order to usher in a new creation, in order to rise to new life and give us eternal life in himself. This work that mankind needs a human to do for them, and it is work that only God can do. That’s why we must celebrate the God-man, Jesus Christ, who came to us in the fullness of time in the history of our world, who reigns in heaven now until he returns.

So it’s good to have two distinct time periods on our spiritual calendar that “call us to recall” our longing, our hope, and our promised future in Christ.

What will you do this season to recall these things?

Our Lament service this Sunday at 4pm will address some of our longings. Our worship on Sunday mornings and on Christmas Eve will point us toward our hope in the love of Christ. Along the way, we’ll have fun together singing, laughing, and eating as a gathered spiritual family at our Cookies and Carols next Sunday at 6pm.

And don’t forget to invite a friend to come and enjoy our first-ever Christmas Market tomorrow from 10am-2pm at the church building.

in Christ,

Pastor Tag