Christian worship is fundamentally about union with God. That is, God gives Himself to us in worship. As we receive Him – not merely by hearing His Word or making mental assent to a set of doctrines but as we eat and drink Him in Holy Eucharist – we are transformed into the image of Christ, unified with God, and brought into the very life of the Trinity!
And all of this happens by His grace, mysteriously, every time the Church gathers to sing and praise, pray and preach, confess sin, receive absolution, share in the peace of Christ, and celebrate the sacraments. This is Christian worship!
Two weeks from now we will be in the liturgical (worship) season of Advent, preparing for the liturgical season of Christmas. These seasons of worship are one of the unique ways the Church has learned to open herself up to the transformation that God offers.
It’s as if the Church says “Christians, let your worship of God so pervade and define your identity that even your clocks and calendars remind you of the gospel!” I love this! And I find the observance of the liturgical calendar to be one of the most beneficial practices in my relationship with God.
So, if it’s true that God shapes our identity in worship, let’s ask, “What parts of us will be brought into union with God by observing Advent and Christmas?” I see two ideas here:
Advent teaches us to be aware of our existential longings, and to point them in the right direction, toward Christ.
Christmas reminds us that God fills our longings by His coming, shaping in us both joy and hope.
The two liturgical seasons work together in this way.
Advent teaches us to be aware of our existential longings, and to point them in the right direction, toward Christ.
Advent: Longing
In Advent we set out on a journey. It’s a journey of longing. In the hymns and prayers, the assigned Scripture readings, and the progressive lighting of the Advent candles, we rehearse the plight of Israel in the First Testament as they waited for their Messiah to come and rescue them from slavery and oppression. So, we sing hymns with lyrics like this:
O Come, O come, Emmanuel, to ransom captive Israel.
Of course, the Messiah did come! And so, our longing during Advent is actually directed in large part toward the second coming of Christ! It is a season layered with meaning and truth. This is why sing:
Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! God appears on earth to reign.
Even the colors of Christian worship help us tell the story of the gospel. During Advent, you’ll see the colors purple and blue around the church. Purple is the color of royalty, but also of lament and repentance (purple is also used during Lent). Blue represents anticipation, like the deep blue color of the sky before dawn.
In other words, during Advent, we are longing and lamenting, waiting with anticipation, making repentant preparations for a Savior-King! We don’t have to leave our longings at the door of the church. We can bring them with us to worship, knowing that God desires to meet and fulfill them in His coming.
We don't have to leave our longings at the door of the church. We can bring them with us to worship, knowing that God desires to meet and fulfill them in His coming.
Christmastide: Joy and Hope
Then, Christmas comes! The blue and purple colors are changed to gold and white, festive colors of celebration, joy, and light. The dawn from on high has broken upon us!
The Church celebrates Christmas not with a single day, but with an entire season called Christmastide – twelve days of reveling in God’s coming. This means that, even when the stores take down their decorations on the 26th of December, Christians continue to linger in the joyful mystery of the incarnation. Christmastide is an exuberant and vibrant time of worship as God shapes us into a people characterized by joy, at Christ’s first coming, and hope, for His second.
My prayer for us this coming Advent and Christmas is that we might become a people who face our deepest longings and bring them to God in worship, knowing the hope and joy that comes when God fills them with Himself.
I recently recorded one of the hymns we sing at my church during Advent.
It’s called, Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates, and you can hear it here.
