Day 3 The Meaning of Advent

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. James 5:7-8  ESV

The church as a whole never believed or taught that Jesus was born on December 25, nor did it ever require that everyone observe Christmas.  The ancient church always celebrated Christ's nativity--it's mentioned in manuscripts from the early Second Century, but at first they celebrated  at different times.  The date of December 25 was eventually settled on the time of the celebration for reasons that had nothing to do with Jesus' actual birth. 

Christmas means Christ's Mass. A mass is a worship service, meant to be a reminder of a great event.  Christmas annually celebrates God's coming in human form.  It never mattered to the church which date on the calendar was His real birthday, but only that they annually remember the reason He came.

An internet search of Christmas will quickly reveal a lot of websites which argue that Christmas is a pagan holiday.   The Mithra cult, which was popular in ancient Rome, celebrated the feast of The Unconquerable Sun on December 25. Some of the Roman emperors worshiped Mithra and declared it a holiday.  Most Romans celebrated a Roman holiday called saturnalia somewhere between December 17th and 23rd, but there is no real historical evidence  that these holidays had any bearing on the church's choice for the date of Christmas.  The most ancient churches in existence today celebrates Christmas on January 6.  

Even if there were a connection, and the date was chosen for conveniences sake, since so many were off work on those dates anyway,  it would still not make any difference to the meaning of Christmas. The ancient church developed a yearly cycle of feast days as a method of keeping Christ's  birth, life, death and resurrection in front of us annually. It made sense to begin the year with the celebration of Christ's birth.

The period before the feast of the Nativity was called Advent, when people prepared themselves for the coming of the Lord.  It was originally a time of fasting and preparation, similar to Lent.  Like Easter,  the feast of the Nativity was a popular time for people to unite with the church and be baptized. It was  a time for setting aside the business of the world,  for fasting, repentance and confession, so we would be ready to receive the blessing of the coming of Christ.  The time after Christ's Mass, the so-called Twelve Days of Christmas, was a time for rejoicing that He came.

In our world, we seem to have reversed these. December is our time of fun, feasting and parties.  The average American will put on three to six pounds of excess fat in the next month, due to overeating.  January is our time of making resolutions, going on diets, joining health clubs, and paying down credit card debt we accrued in celebration. 

Our world prepares for the holidays, but we don't prepare for Jesus.  We look forward to holiday joy, but we have disconnected it from the source of that joy.  Jesus is an afterthought to us, and worship is something we turn to only after we have satisfied ourselves on worldly amusements and  mindless commercialism.  We approach Christ at Christmas like  a drunk returning home to his wife after an all-night bender--hung over, distracted, and more than a little guilty. 
Let's do better this year Use this season to prepare ourselves for God's blessing.  When the early church celebrated Christmas, the only present was Jesus Himself.  Everything before Christ is nothing compared to the joy that comes in Him.

This season,  prepare your hearts for the coming of the Lord, by making room for Him in your lives. 

"Father,  let us know the darkness of our own lives, before we come to seek you.  Help us prepare for your coming, and help us to anticipate the joy that comes in Christ's name.  Amen"