Advent Word
Advent is a time to focus on our faith, a time that, in our Christian faith, we are called to something very different than our secular surroundings. While the secular world focuses on activity, noise and doing things, the Christian season of Advent is a time for quiet, for reflection and for meditation. It is a season of preparation for the celebration of the incarnation of the Word, the birth of Jesus Christ.
Advent is also a time to anticipate, to wait in hope for the second coming of Christ. We are told that Jesus will come again to “to judge the quick and the dead.”[i] In Hebrews 9:28, we read, “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
There is an international Advent activity that is called Advent Word. It can be found on social media platforms and one can also subscribe to receive meditations in a daily email by going to www.adventword.org. A word is offered each day during Advent on which to reflect or meditate. This is a way to intentionally shift our focus away from the hustle and bustle of the world around us to focus on that quiet anticipation, that time of preparation for the coming celebration of the birth of Jesus. You can join the Advent Word activity online, or you can create your own “Advent Word” by choosing a word each day that inspires thoughts of hope, joy, anticipation or preparation. Then spend some quiet time reflecting on that word. Choosing to spend time each day, whether through Advent Word or some others discipline, will help prepare you in this season of waiting and fill you with the hope of Christ.
Let us pray:
O Day Spring, splendor of eternal light, Sun of Righteousness; come and enlighten the darkness of our minds. O key of David, come and open wide the secret places of our hearts that we may receive you who came among us at Bethlehem, and who comes among us daily in the unfolding of our lives, and will come again in glory in the age to come. Amen.[ii]
[i] Apostles’ Creed, "The Book of Common Prayer," pg. 54.
[ii] Frank T. Griswold. "Praying Our Days, A Guide and Companion," 2009. Pg. 13.
