Why I love the Advent Season

Last night I was able to attend the Behold the Lamb of God concert presented by Andrew Peterson at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, KY (I've never attended Ashland Avenue, but it looks like a great church, they had a wonderful book selection sitting out in the lobby). For those of you not familiar with the album, Peterson has written original music (apart from two instrumentals) pertaining to the Christmas story. It was the second time I've been able to attend the BTLOG concert and it is my hope to make it an annual tradition. What I love about the music is how it begins with why it was necessary for the Savior to come and rescue us and it traces him from the story of Moses through the entire Old Testament and up to his birth. That's something that the Lord has been showing me while I've been here in Louisville. While every good christian will say and believe that the Old Testament points to Christ, and I may be wrong about this, but I don't believe that we fully understand what that entails. I know I didn't, and I'm still trying to comprehend it. For example, we know the prophecies in the Old Testament are predictions of Christ, but everything else points to him as well. To briefly summarize, there is a continual Exodus theme and it is so apparent, a continual deliverance led by the Christ, to be ultimately fulfilled at the dawn of New Creation. But I digress...

To get back to what this post is really about is what I've really come to enjoy about Christmas, and that is that it ushers in the Advent season. Those of you who have been around me, which is probably the only people who read this blog, know that I've been trying to be more intentional on calling it the Advent season. The reason for this is because of what Advent means. Advent as defined by dictionary.com means 1) a coming into place, view, or being; arrival, or more specifically 2) the coming of Christ into the world. At the time of his birth, the Jewish people were waiting in expectation of the Christ. Most of us know that they got it wrong, in that they were expecting a military leader, however this does not diminish the fact that they were expectant. We as believers are commanded to look towards the joyful hope of the Kingdom of Christ which is coming. We are told to be living in another Advent, one that promises to restore all things.

This is why I love the "Advent Season." It is a great time of reflection as to what has happened and what is promised to happen. For believers it should be a time of magnification of how we should be living, constantly expectant and constantly awaiting the coming of Christ, again.

Not to mention I love the sweets and smells that go along with the Advent season, but once again, I digress...


P.S. I stink at blogging