A Not Too Boring Primer on the Difference Between Advent and Christmas

We United Methodists are a part of a liturgical church, meaning that we have a church calendar that moves us through the various seasons of the year.  These seasons often dictate the themes and content of our worship.  We share this calendar with our Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Presbyterian friends.  Other denominations besides these may also follow this calendar.

In the liturgical calendar most of the seasons that are celebrated are connected to events in the life of Jesus.  Christmas, which celebrates Jesus' birth, and Easter, which celebrates Jesus' resurrection are examples of this.

Though the retail and consumer culture tells us that it is Christmas time, the liturgical calendar tells that it is not yet Christmas but rather Advent.  Advent consists of the four Sundays prior to Christmas. Most churches have an Advent wreath with five candles and each week a candle is lit on the wreath as the church moves closer to the celebration of Christmas. On Christmas Eve the final candle is lit. A simple definition of Advent would be a time of preparation for the celebration of Jesus' birth.  

Starting with Christmas Eve the church begins the actual celebration of Jesus birth.  The season of Christmas then lasts until January 6th concluding with the day of Epiphany.  The word Epiphany means "manifestation" reminding us that in Jesus, God became present among us.  Epiphany for centuries was the prime celebration of the Christmas season and in many cultures it remains the day of gift giving.  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is more of a celebration of the shepherds who visited Jesus while Epiphany is more of a celebration of the visit to Jesus by the Wise Men. The entire Christmas season lasts twelve days which was the basis for the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas." 

While preparation for Christmas is certainly a part of the Advent season there is more to Advent than that.  The word Advent's Latin roots literally mean "coming."  So it is that Christ comes at his birth.  However, Christ also comes to us each and every day though the word of God, his continuing presence, and in opportunities to love and serve our neighbors.  We also look to the great day when as our communion ritual says that "Christ will come in final victory" and God's perfect reign of justice and righteousness will come upon the earth.  Advent reminds us that we are to always be prepared for Jesus in whatever way he might come to us.

The fact is, we never know when Jesus might show up in a most unexpected way.  When I was a boy my family had a little place on Lake Blackshear down in South Georgia.  Our routine was to head down to the lake on Friday evening, spend the night, and return late Saturday evening so that we could be in our place in church on Sunday.

Late one Saturday evening we were heading up I-75.  I was around ten years of age snoozing in the back seat when I felt the car pull over.   There was a desperate teary eyed female motorist on the side of the road with a flat tire.  She was young though older than I at age ten.  The car had Michigan plates.  She said she was going back to Michigan for her wedding.

My father and I retrieved her spare tire from the trunk of the car and changed her blown out tire with the spare.  Okay, my Dad changed the tire; I just stood there and held the flashlight.  My mother talked with the young lady. My Dad said her spare was too bald to be safe so we led the young lady to a gas station in Perry where the flat tire was repaired.  I saw my Dad pay for the repair with his Texaco credit card and also had the girl’s car filled with gas. 

My mother asked the young lady if she wanted to stay over at our house for the night before she traveled on to Michigan.  She declined.  Soon we went on our way.  I noticed as we were saying good-bye my mother pressing a twenty dollar bill in the young lady’s hand.  This was a twenty-dollar bill in 1972 when a twenty-dollar bill meant more than it does today.   The same woman who would lecture me on the value of a dollar when I would ask for a dime to buy an ice-cream sandwich after school was giving this total stranger a twenty-dollar bill.  So be it. 

At age ten I knew my folks were being helpful but that was about it; however, a number of years later I drove past that spot on interstate where we found the young lady and I reflected on what took place that night and I realized that I had been a witness to the coming of Christ.  I remembered some words that Jesus spoke when he said, “As you have done it to the least of these my friends you have done it unto me.”