O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Miles’ preschool teacher must have told him that Christmas is after Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving, he started asking if it was Christmas. Things became even more confusing to him when we had a late Thanksgiving dinner that Sunday. We were going to Grammy and Papa’s house. Their Christmas tree was up, the house was decorated, but there were no presents under the tree! You could see the confusion growing on Miles’ face. Wasn’t anyone else aware that it was Christmas time?!

Thankfully, December is here and the Advent calendar is making the countdown to Christmas a little easier to grasp for a four-year-old. Though I never fully understood Advent as a child, it was always one of my favorite traditions. In our house growing up, the Advent calendar was a quilted wall hanging with pockets. Each day there would be a little piece of candy in it.

My husband’s family also had an Advent calendar tradition. They had a quilted wall hanging with a Christmas tree on it. Starting December 1st, they would hang a new ornament on the tree each morning. The star was the last ornament to be put on the tree. To avoid arguments, Zach’s mom would be the one to add the star Christmas morning. Early in our marriage, she made our family a calendar so we could continue the tradition.

I love the idea of counting down and the growing anticipation Advent brings, but I wanted to bring some of the historical elements of Advent into our family traditions. Several years ago we bought an Advent wreath at our local Christian bookstore. It included five candles that you light throughout the month of December. A new candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. The last candle is lit on Christmas day. Included with the Advent wreath were some Scripture suggestions to read each time you light a candle. We wanted this to become a favorite tradition for our kids. So along with the Scripture readings, we also include a creative element. Some years we let the kids hammer nails into wood as they imagine the life of a carpenter. Other years they make bells and run around the house announcing the birth of Jesus like the angles did to the shepherds. We try to make the activity new each weekend so this too becomes something they anticipate.

As wonderful as all of our Advent traditions are, I realized they were all counting down to the day of Jesus’ birth, but Advent encompasses more than this. Just as Israel was counting down the days until Jesus’ first coming, we are counting down the days until His second coming. Waiting for 25 days until Christmas is nothing compared to the thousands of years Israel waited for the appearing of their Messiah. It is nothing compared to the thousands of years the church has waited for Christ’s return.

Music hits me deeply, and my children are well acquainted with seeing me tear up during a good song. I had never given much thought as to why some Christmas songs caused such a strong response in me. This year I realized the songs that touched me the most are the ones which speak of God responding to the deep longing of His people. I get all choked up imagining the Israelites’ responses to their prayers being answered because I too am waiting for my Savior. The joy found in Christmas music can only fully be appreciated when you consider the immense longing of the faithful, who for generations passed down the prophecies about their Savior’s birth. How many generations had waited?

The time that passed between the events in the Old Testament and New Testament is referred to as the 400 years of silence. During this time, God did not speak to His people through the prophets. The silence was broken by the coming of John the Baptist. I wonder how many families were still faithfully waiting at the time of John the Baptist’s birth.

The song “Mary Did You Know?” is filled with questions the author wonders if Jesus’ young mother knew. I tend to believe that she knew the answers to most of those questions. She might not have understood the full ramifications, but I believe she was one of the faithful that was waiting and longing for a Messiah. To me that is the only explanation for how Mary could have responded to the angel’s message that she would bear God’s Son with, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

She had been waiting. Anticipating the coming of her Savior.

All of a sudden 25 days doesn’t seem so long to wait. The far greater challenge is instilling in my children a longing to be found among the faithful when Christ returns.

As you look back to the birth of Christ this holiday season, may you look forward to His certain return.

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.