Glynlea Grace United Methodist Church l Southside l Arlington l Jacksonville Florida

Joyful anticipation and vital preparation

The season of Advent is here!!! Soon it will be Christmas Day! What a wonderful time of heightened expectation. Some of us are looking forward to the gifts we’ll receive, while others are looking forward to watching their children or grandchildren open gifts.

I’m especially looking forward to this Christmas. My son, Joshua, will be almost 3 years old. For the first time, he’ll be old enough to develop an excitement for Christmas as he anticipates what’s going to happen. It will be a joy to watch.

Joyful anticipation is what Advent is all about. Our anticipation, however, is not limited to watching kids open their gifts. More than anything else, our anticipation concerns the coming of Jesus Christ. We anticipate the celebration of His first coming while yearning for His second coming.

The first coming refers to the time when God, the creator of the universe, came down to earth as the baby Jesus. Take a moment to sit back and reflect on this miracle. The Lord God Almighty loves us so much that he was willing to become human on our behalf. Jesus is God showing us how to be a perfect human. The relationship between Jesus and His Father demonstrates what our relationship with God should look like. As God in the flesh, Jesus gives us the perfect example to follow. This also means that God knows what it is like to laugh and suffer as a human. When you pray “God, I’m in pain”, God can identify with that.

We must not forget the main reason God became human. Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice, paying the penalty for our sins. Jesus did this so that we can receive God’s forgiveness and have an eternal love relationship with God. Wow, what a loving God we have!!

The second coming refers to the time when Jesus will return to set everything right on earth. Right now we live in the midst of sin, evil, pain and suffering. We yearn for the moment when Jesus comes back and makes his enemies “a foot stool for his feet”, disposing of sin, evil, pain and suffering for all time. We must, however, be prepared for this event.

The joyful anticipation of Advent must be accompanied by vital preparation. During Advent, we at Glynlea Grace UMC will invite the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts through special moments in Sunday Morning worship, a worship musical (13 December), visits to nursing homes (6 & 27 December), Christmas Card Markets (12, 13 and 20 December) and a Christmas Eve candle light service. All of these events are great opportunities to invite unchurched family and friends. Please make every effort to attend these events. By doing so, you may find yourself a bit better at loving God and neighbor.

Along with preparing for Christmas (The celebration of the first coming), we must also prepare for the second coming. John the Baptist was called to “prepare the way for the Lord” when Jesus was about to begin His earthly ministry. In the same way, we are called to “prepare the way for the Lord” prior to Jesus’ second coming. How do we do this? We proclaim the good news about Jesus and serve those in need. We evangelize while feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, teaching the illiterate etc… This is, of course, something we should do all year long. I suppose this means that Advent is not just a December event. It continues throughout the year. With this in mind, use the month of December to get into an ‘Advent state of mind’ and then celebrate Advent throughout 2010 and beyond.