Advent Preparation

I am always amazed at how much time and energy we put into trying to make Christmas perfect.  We make sure the decorations are out at the right time and in the right places.  The right present is bought and perfectly wrapped.  Our favorite Christmas food is prepared with loving care and attention.  Sometimes I think that Christmas should be full time job!  We should all get a couple of week off before Christmas just to prepare to celebrate Christmas.  We get so busy with trying to get everything done, let alone doing it all perfectly.  And still we end up lying awake at night thinking of all of the Christmas things that still need to get done.  We end up spending a lot of time looking and searching.  We search for the right present, the right music, the right ingredients, the missing ornament, but how much time do we spend searching for what Christmas is all about, for what really matters?

We look for Christmas in the presents and the decorations, in the food and the lights.   We look for Christmas in the colder weather that we expect at Christmas.  If we happen to find a baby in a manger on the way to the perfect present then we can check that off our list too, but if not perhaps we fill find him at a Christmas Eve service with the candles and the music.  And yet somehow we feel like we are missing it.  Something just doesn’t feel quite right; something is missing even though we can’t really put our finger on what it is.  There is something about this Christmas season that just isn’t there and we don’t know why.  It seems like there is something we are forgetting to do, something important, but we can’t quite remember what.

Thankfully, going back to the original story helps to guide us to that missing element.  When we go back and read about the people who worked to prepare the world for the coming birth of the Messiah over 2,000 years ago, we are reminded of the reason we celebrate in the first place.  In Luke, John the Baptist helps us to prepare for the coming Messiah and reminds us of what we are missing.  We are missing Christ and our need for a Messiah and Savior.  John the Baptist does not sound very Christmassy.  We don’t usually think of him when we think about the Christmas story, and he has a habit of calling people a brood of vipers and telling them that if they do not bear fruit for God they will be cut down and burned.  John reminds of us our sinfulness and unworthiness.  Needless to say, it is not our typical Christmas story, but then again, maybe it is.

The story of John the Baptist reminds us that we are broken and sinful.  None of us are perfect and every one of us needs a Savior.  He reminds us that God did not just leave us there in our broken and sinful state, but God sent his only Son into the world, born in a manger in Bethlehem to redeem us and heal our brokenness.  It a powerful reminder that God sent his only Son to redeem us and heal our brokenness.

So many times we want to speed past Advent in order to get to Christmas Eve.  We want the baby in the manger, the presents under the tree, the family all around us.  But Advent is here for a reason.  It is to give us time to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.  It is to give us time to realize why the birth of Christ changed the world and can still change the world.  During this time we read stories like this from those who were there to prepare the people for the birth of Christ, to remind us that we need this baby that will be born in Bethlehem. 

In Advent we are reminded that we are a sinful people in need of a Savior.  We are encouraged to confront our own sin and brokenness, our need of a Savior and Messiah.  This is what Christmas is about. This is what the child came for. This is why it is such good news. It is because we need it so desperately. I have sinned. I need someone who will help me, save me, and heal my brokenness.

We are in the season of Advent — the season of preparation, expectation, and anticipation. How are you preparing for Jesus to come? Are you preparing by spending so much time making Christmas perfect that you miss the coming of the Savior?  Are you preparing by confronting your own sinfulness and recognizing your own need for a Savior, a Messiah?  When we stand and face our sin and brokenness we then begin to realize how the birth of this baby, in a little town, so many centuries ago really can change the world.

God bless, Rev. Liz Arakelian, www.LivingHopeEC.org