Dec 4 - The Days Are Coming

The Days Are Coming

Monday, December 4, 2023

By Rebecca Pruett

I messed up. I accidentally developed an expectation in my children that I did not intend to create.

When my children were little, I really needed a tool to help them see how time passed and helped them understand how many days until Christmas. And frankly, I was tired of answering the question asked multiple times a day, "How many days until Christmas?"

Have you seen the Advent Calendars at Aldi? They are really cute and they give children a visual image of the number of days remaining until Christmas.  The Advent Calendar was the perfect solution. Most importantly, when we were done, we could throw the empty box away and minimize the ever present clutter which was driving me crazy!

This year, I have a 13 year old daughter and an 11 year old son. They are getting too old for Advent Calendars with dolls and Legos in them, and so I suggested that we skip Advent Calendars this year. You would have thought I told them that we were going to move to a desert island or even the worst thing of all - get rid of the internet!

It turns out the Advent Calendar is an important part of building their expectation for Christmas. In fact, we don't just have the expectation of Christmas Day, we also have the expectation of the Advent Calendar as they now count down the days until they can start opening their Advent Calendar!

In the Old Testament, God's people were waiting with expectation for the coming of the Messiah. Jeremiah 33:14-17 says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel." Jeremiah 33:14-17 ESV

Simeon and the Christ Child in the Temple
Rembrandt

My children are waiting with excitement for the fulfillment of the promise I made to provide them with an Advent Calendar; just like God's people were waiting with excitement for the fulfillment of the promise God made to provide them with the "Righteous Branch", Jesus.

But God's people were not just waiting for their Messiah Jesus. They were not just waiting for a little baby. They were also waiting for what Jesus would bring. They were waiting for justice and righteousness. They were waiting for salvation. They were waiting for the Messiah who would sit on the throne and rule them with love.

And so my children wait in excitement to open their Advent Calendars, knowing that these Advent Calendars point to the much anticipated Christmas Day, when we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, the One who was not just a baby, but is also the Savior, the One who brings us into a right relationship with God.

Maybe I did not make a mistake with the Advent Calendars after all.....

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever.  Amen.

From the Online Book of Common Prayers