In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Christians around the world will celebrate a season called Advent. For many, Advent is marked by the nostalgia of familiar songs, nativity scenes, Christmas trees, bright lights, and candlelight services. But beyond the feelings of nostalgia and the change in decorations, what is Advent anyway? At its heart, Advent is a season of waiting and expectation. It is a time to reflect on the long wait before God sent a savior; a wait often characterized by darkness, struggle, exile, and suffering. At Advent, we celebrate and wonder at the God who sent not just any savior into that darkness, but His very own Son who would be born into the world as a child, live a human life, and sacrifice himself on the cross for the sins of the very people who should have rejoiced at His coming. 

Author Fleming Rutledge puts it this way: "Where is God when it is dark? The church proclaims that he never hides himself to no purpose. Somewhere, somehow, in spite of all appearances, his vindication awaits the proper moment. At the heart of the Advent season is the proclamation that God did not remain where he was, high above the misery of his creation, but came down, incognito, into the midst of it...To each and all we bring this announcement: God will come, and his justice will prevail, and he will destroy evil and pain in all its forms, once and forever. To be a Christian is to live in expectation of that fulfillment." In celebrating Advent we are not merely looking back at some far off period in history, but coming to grips with our own wait and longing for Jesus' return as our King and the restoration of all things.