Advent is the first season of the Church year. It lasts for four weeks leading up to Christmas Day on December 25. Notably, there is a distinction between the civil calendar and the church calendar. “Advent” comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming or arrival.”
Used by the Church, the word refers to two things. First, it speaks about Jesus Christ’s appearance when he was born on the first Christmas Day. Second, it heralds the second appearance of Jesus Christ when, as the faithful believe, he returns to judge the living and the dead.
This year we are inviting the members of Saint Andrew Memorial to participate in the season of Advent by writing a short meditation on meaning of the Christmas season for one day of the Advent season. If you would like to contribute please contact James Jarvis after the weekly service or by email:jarvisjd@rogers.com
Reflections for Advent
The First Day of Advent November 30
If I were to choose a Hymn that embodies the seeming contradictions of the season of Advent, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” would be my choice. For many of us Christmas is a season of hopeful expectation and joy. Time spent with family and friends, but it is also a season of penance and loss. November 30 was the last full day of my dad’s life; it was also the first Sunday of Advent for that year. He died early in the morning of December 1st. So, for me and many others Advent is both a season of hope and joy, and a season of loss and lament. At Advent “Rejoice!” is sung in a minor key like a lament. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a understood of this dynamic as well as anyone. In one of his prison letters, Bonhoeffer wrote, “A prison cell like this, in which one watches and hopes and performs this or that ultimately insignificant task, and in which one is wholly dependent on the doors being opened from the outside, is far from an inappropriate metaphor for Advent.” Though the prison door may be locked from the outside, Advent hope promises that it will be thrown open once again because Christ has come to free the captive. We sing “Rejoice” like a “broken hallelujah” to borrow a phrase from Leonard Cohen. Emmanuel, we must remember, means God with us. When we cry for Emmanuel to come, we are crying out in joy and lament God abide with us.
one hand opens in grief
the other in gratitude
pressing them together to pray
— Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, “One on Thanksgiving
James Jarvis