The Elements Of Advent

As I sat down to put together my thoughts for this sermon, and after praying about it, I looked at the calendar and realized that this is one of those years that there are only 4 Sundays of Advent between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes there are 5 Sundays but then there are years like 2020 where there are only 4. Then I thought: I was away for two of those weeks so I have 2 weeks to talk about the 4 elements of Advent.

So, today I would like to talk about 3 of those Advent elements, Love, Joy, and Hope. And when you think about it, without love, joy, and hope, what would Christmas be? I’m saving the last element of Advent for next week as we began Christmas week in the spirit of God’s peace.

First, the love of God can only be adequately described as an unconditional, self-sacrificing, agape love. Most Christians if asked to recite a favorite Bible verse will quote John 3:16. Can you recite it with me?

Now stop for a moment and look at that verse closely. “For God so loved the world that He gave……” I know the verse doesn’t end there but in actuality, that’s what God does over and over again. God loves us so much that He gives, and He gives and He continues to give.

Now that verse goes on to explain that God gave the most priceless gift that anyone could give—He gave His only Son. Can you even fathom how much God loves you that He would give the life of His only Son to die for you. How many of you would give up even one of your children to save someone else’s life? That’s right. None of you. And yet God allowed His only Son to take upon Himself the punishment that we all deserve.

And it’s that Son, Jesus Christ, that was born to begin the process of God getting in close touch with us. It’s that love that we celebrate this Christmas.

A story is told about a School District that had banned using the name of "Christ" in any of their Christmas programs. Sort of ironic isn’t it that Christ couldn’t be mentioned along with Christmas. Though they could use the name "Christmas" they began calling the Holiday programs things like "Winter Festival".

One music teacher though decided to include a presentation using the words "Christmas Love". Each of the 13 letters were drawn on to carboard, and 13 children would each hold up a letter spelling it out. They practiced and it came time for the program, and there it was for all to see. Picture it in your minds.

Parents were pointing. People were rejoicing. Children were giggling. The Principle was turning red in the face, because little Johnny, holding the 7th letter, which was the “M” in Christmas, had his upside, and instead of Christmas Love, it now read "Christ was Love". And He is, and He was born out of love to be the Savior of the world.

Another Advent event that we celebrate is JOY. What would Christmas be without joy? Try to imagine the joy that was felt in the hearts of shepherds when the angels gave them the instructions to go to Bethlehem to see for themselves, the Savior of the world, born to us.

The people we see in the Christmas story experienced things that were never seen before and have not been seen since. In this time of Advent, we look at some of these Bible characters, studying their responses to the birth of the Messiah and how to apply lessons to our lives today.

“And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.’” —Luke 1:46-49, NKJV

It’s hard not to be intrigued and impressed by Mary. She was just a teenager, some say between 13 and 16 years old, when an angel appeared to her. I can just imagine how a teen today would have reacted if an angel of the Lord showed up in their room. My guess is that the immediate response would be fear, screams or crying. The sheer overwhelming nature of the experience would be enough to cause that reaction.

However, when the angel appears and brings a joyful message—“Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” The Bible says that Mary was “troubled.” The angel even encouraged her with, “Do not be afraid.”

One would expect that Mary would struggle with this revelation and abrupt change in her life. Who wouldn’t? After all, things seemed to be going okay. She was even engaged to a man named Joseph, but now she would be the gossip of the town. A scandal like an unwed pregnancy would not go unnoticed, and answering the critics by saying that an angel visited her would likely cause more questions than answers.