O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.

Sunday began this year’s Advent season which traditionally includes the four weeks before Christmas. The word advent comes from Latin and means “coming.” Advent is the time when Christians around the world await the coming of Jesus’ birth.

Growing up in a German family, I was always excited when Advent came around for Christmas was truly the most wonderful time of the year. On December 1st my brothers and I received an Advent calendar to count down the 24 days. Those old calendars didn’t have chocolates tucked behind doors but hid pictures from Luke’s Christmas story. The best reward was finally opening the manger scene on the 24th which was well hidden among glittery angels, shepherds and wise men.

My mother usually had an evergreen wreath decorated with red ribbons for the dining room table with five candles on it, four purple ones for each Sunday and a white one to symbolize the birth of Jesulein, the Christ Child. Each Sunday one of the candles was lighted until finally on Christmas Day, all five burned. The smell of pines and evergreens still evokes those childhood memories. We went to church on the four Advent Sundays and listened to rich traditional hymns which rose in my heart. Singing “O come, O come, Emmanuel”, I sensed wonder and mystery. There was excitement in Advent’s waiting, an expectancy of something grand “coming.” Much later I learned this song was Israel’s lament, a cry to God for Messiah to come rescue them in their lonely exile. Theirs was a long, lonely time of waiting.

As Advent moves toward Christmas, I have to ask. Where has child like wonder gone? What happened to the expectant, mysterious Advent waiting which once was an integral part of Christmas? Why is there not exaltation that Immanuel, God with us, is already here. Messiah came not only to Israel but to His “believing people, “ who are called by His Name. Christians, what is there not to shout about? Shouldn’t we at least ask ourselves, what exactly are we waiting for during this time?

Advent reminds me that the four weeks before Christmas are not meant to be a frenzy of gift shopping and raised blood pressure. We can’t buy love, generosity or hope at the mall or on-line but it’s getting extremely difficult to await God’s Spirit in the clamorous bazaar of cultural hawkers.

We’ve already received the greatest gift: the Gift of Christ and the gracious Father who sent the Gift. May Advent be time to ponder gratefully with quiet amazement what God gave of Himself, His Son born into the muck and mire of a fallen, lost world. We don’t have to wait in the darkness like ancient Israel did. The Son of God appeared as promised, but not as the king which Israel expected. Immanuel, the hope of Israel, came when Jesus was born to a poor virgin in an animal stall, laid in a trough meant to feed ox and sheep.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5

John revealed that Jesus’ life in its humblest beginning was the glorious light of mankind. It overpowers every evil of loneliness, exile, captivity and mourning. The longing for Immanuel in Advent has been fulfilled. The Lord is near. More glorious still, Jesus, our Immanuel, will never leave nor forsake us through the Holy Spirit. Rejoice! Rejoice!