Sunday Meeting: 11/29/2020
Advent: Anticipating, participating, and preparing
This week marks the first Sunday of the 4 weeks of Advent. In our meeting we discussed the history and evolution of the Advent celebration as well as the meaning of Advent, the coming or arrival of something NEW.
History of Advent:
· In the 300s-400s Advent was a time of preparation for Baptism (it was politically correct to be Christian in those years following the rule of Constantine)
· In the 600s, the Roman church set aside 4 weeks of Advent focused on thinking of the second coming of Christ
· Later, in the Middle ages, the Roman church linked Advent to Christmas. During these years, the church wanted to counteract the darkest-day-of-the-year-celebration of the heathens with a celebration of light overcoming darkness. It was then that the theatrical pageantry of Advent and Christmas began.
· Today, the 4 weeks of Advent are split into 2 weeks of preparation for Second Coming, followed by two weeks of preparation for Christmas
What does Advent mean to us today and how can we be prepared for Jesus’ Second coming? Will we be able to see Him as He is, as John writes?
1 John 3:1-3:
“see what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
We can look at lives of the first disciples of Christ to understand the characteristics that allowed them to recognize and follow Him.
What allowed the disciples to hear, see, and receive the message of Jesus?
· Nontraditional/nonreligious
-the fishermen Jesus called were far from being devoutly religious, and their lack of investment in religiosity allowed them to embrace Jesus’ new teachings
-they didn’t have the preconceived ideas and well-founded prophecies of their super-religious counterparts
· Thought outside the box
-the disciples were willing to question their paradigms and thought systems of success and material prosperity
-their hearts were open to Jesus’ invitation to a wildly different mindset and purpose to life
· Willing to change everything
-it is likely that the first disciples had to forgo business ventures and potential capital gain in exchange for following Jesus
-they were ready to completely change the course of their work and family lives
-following Jesus also meant opening up their hearts to men and women they never otherwise would have associated with, but who became like brothers and sisters with a common goal
· No boundaries to their passion
-there must have been times when they were confused either about who Jesus really was or what His words meant. However, they were willing to walk through that confusion to gain life’s ultimate depth and meaning
-They became accustomed to spontaneity, unpredictability, and disturbances every day!
· No personal pursuits
-some of the disciples left family members for long periods of time to spend time with Jesus, this was indicative of their willingness to leave everything in order to follow Jesus
-they learned how to fully depend on Jesus for direction and teaching, surrendering their own independence
· Overwhelmed by love
-they must have been overwhelmed by His love that embraced everyone and everything
Ultimately, the proactive nature of disciples throughout the centuries placed them in a posture of readiness for God’s leading.
What paradigms and thought systems of today do we need to discard in order to be ready to respond to Jesus as He stands there, calling us to follow?
As Mark writes in his Gospel:
“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘watch!’” (Mark 13:35-37)
