Celebrating Advent – The Kingdom is Come – The Kingdom Will Come
Ryan Bell of the Hollywood Adventist church has written on Advent and makes this interesting statement
I wish I had time to post about the irony that, for the most part, ADVENTists don’t celebrate ADVENT
While we have passed Advent and moved into epiphany, I think it is interesting to look at Advent and its importance for all Christians and especially Seventh-day Adventists. Bell argues:
The great danger facing Christmas is Christians who sentimentalize it. Once we’ve sentimentalized Christmas – de-clawed it – neutered it – tamed it; once we’ve reduced Christmas to sentimentality, it lays wide open to every abuse.
Has Christmas become something more than a celebration of Christ coming into our world? Is it just about a celebration of family and friends and “smiling and saying hello to people we don’t know?”
Bell reminds us that the Jesus who stood up and read from Isaiah a passage that had Herod shaking in his boots has been replaced. Replaced with a Jesus that looks a little like the Santa Clause that we try so hard to distinguish him from.
But Advent is anticipation of the King coming to earth. The King with those different principles like the first being last. The King who called us to preach, “Fear God and Give Glory to Him for the hour of his judgement is come, and worship the creator.” The King is come. Let us live as though the King has come until the King does come.
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I did the Jesse Tree Advent readings with my children for our morning worship for the past few weeks. I mentioned it to another SDA and you would have thought I had said I was converting to Catholicism by the reaction. (Hmm, I didn’t know that reading about Christ’s birth was strictly a Catholic activity) Our family enjoyed the Christ-centered focus that the Advent readings gave to our holiday celebration.