Belmont University Advent GuideSample

At my home church, the season of Advent was always one of my favorite times to be in church. It’s a time filled with Christmas music, where the sanctuary is decorated with Christmas trees and wreaths, and the warmth and comfort is palpable. The best moment, without rival, is the Christmas Eve service. On that night, the sanctuary is filled and together we conclude the service with a candle-lit singing of “Silent Night.” Nothing says “Christmas” to me quite like that moment.

All the Christmas songs and decorations are good things in their own right, of course. I find great theological and spiritual comfort when in church during Advent more than any other time of the year. However, as is prone to happen, sometimes the true beauty of the Christmas season can become over-shadowed by the pageantry and performance. It becomes easy to let the image of Christmas override the substance which we are called to celebrate.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, some of the most tragic figures in Scripture, were guilty of the very same thing. These teachers and leaders of the Jewish faith, when they encountered the very God they devoted their lives to worship, couldn’t see past the image they had imagined. When Christ had compassion on the Sabbath and healed a man, they were more worried about him breaking the Sabbath. They valued an image of faith over the true object of their worship. For this, they were condemned as a “brood of vipers” (Matt 3.7–10).

Now, of course, there is nothing wrong with the wonderful Christmas services and traditions in the church, and they can serve a valuable purpose in directing our focus to the coming Christ. But it is a dangerous temptation to let these traditions become the be all and end all for Advent, because in them we can find a great deal of comfort. Psalm 50 reminds us that if our customs are empty, they mean nothing to God compared to our obedience to him. It is not by ceremonies and traditions that we find our salvation, but rather in the all-encompassing love and sacrifice of Christ.

Instead, this Advent season let us find comfort as Christians not in holiday rituals alone, but in what these traditions remind us. They remind us of a Savior who came to preach a gospel of compassion for the needy, love of enemies, forgiveness of sins, and who would ultimately give up all so that we may be reconciled with God. This is the true comfort of Advent; a Savior is coming who will offer to us a better life than the world ever could.

Kyle Minardi
Senior, Faith and Social Justice