I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. – Psalm 130:5-6
Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for the birth of Jesus as well as his return. We not only celebrate who Jesus is – hope, peace, joy, love, and more – but the Bible Project says, “it reminds us that we’re living during the time between Jesus’ first and second advents (comings), leading us to lament the hardships we experience in a still-broken world, while also forming us into people who wait with longing for the renewed world to come.”
Personally, “advent” was one of those church-y words that made me feel uncomfortable, mainly because I could never quite remember what it was, slowly forgetting the meaning over the course of a year. Perhaps this exact forgetfulness is why we as humans celebrate holidays annually and establish meaningful traditions to accompany them.
How does your family celebrate advent and Christmas?
Growing up, I remember spending time with family, sharing meals, having decorations up, being home from school, and opening presents. And our countdown to Christmas was really more about the presents than anything else. While not necessarily bad traditions, when deprived of the intentional and clear declaration of the spiritual and biblical truths that could be found within, their goodness was somewhat lost on me. Opening presents became more about consumption than generosity and the gift that Jesus is, decorations became more about aesthetics than about visually reinforcing the story of Christmas, and being home became more about laziness and loneliness than about true rest and relationship.
Whether we realize it or not, every family has traditions they are living out and passing on to the next generation. And these intentional or unintentional traditions are creating a shared sense of belonging, are powerful markers of identity, serve as a source of stability, act as vessels for passing down wisdom, are a tool for celebrating milestones, become emotional anchors, reinforce shared values, create memories, build community, preserve culture, and more. Traditions are forming us – why not curate them with care and intention, all for the sake of pointing us to Jesus?!
This advent let’s evaluate our family’s traditions. How can we more intentionally point to Jesus through the traditions we already have? What new tradition would help our families wait and prepare for Jesus? Prayer, scripture reading, candles, generosity, countdowns, and more, there is no shortage of wonderful ideas. As for me and my family, we’ll be reminding ourselves about the Light of the World by lighting a candle at supper as well as our Christmas tree each night. We’ll be walking through a family-friendly advent scripture reading plan, followed by a sweet treat (because God’s word is “sweeter than honey”) and adding a piece to our nativity scene. Please, join us this advent!
