This past Sunday marked the beginning of a season in the church calendar that we call, Advent (coming, arrival, anticipation). It’s a time of year where we set aside the four weeks leading up to Christmas to look-back and look-ahead. To look back on the ways God has come through and delivered on his promises in the past and to look forward to the day when Jesus will return in all His resurrection glory.
Here’s the tension that Advent presses upon us—shadow vs. substance. The shadow of Christmas is the weight of expectations we place upon this season to magically “set things right” for us. The music, the gifts, the decorations, the gatherings, the focus on giving to others…etc. All of those things are good, and I’m all-in when it comes to Christmas. I’m the one lobbying to put up the tree and pull out the lights around Halloween in our house. Turn up the music, watch a few Hallmark movies, wrap the presents, stuff the stockings. Those are all good things…but they aren’t the ultimate thing. When you take a good thing and try to press it into the ultimate thing, here’s what you’re left with:
- Disappointment
- Unmet expectations
- The January blues
- That internal “ache of incompleteness”
It’s what happens when you’re trying to extract out of the shadow what only the true substance of Christmas can provide. The substance is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became the Son of Man. The Messiah who came to this earth on a rescue mission to pierce through the darkness with the spotlight of His glory and goodness. It’s the radiance of His life that casts the shadow that we call the Christmas season.