“What other time or season can or will the Church ever have but that of Advent?” So says theologian Karl Barth. That’s because when we place our particular cultural moment within the broader timeline of history, we, The Church, are a people who live “between the times.” We live in the tension of the now and the not yet, between the inauguration of God’s good kingdom in the first coming of Jesus, and the and the fulfillment and consummation of that kingdom at his second coming. Jesus’ first coming, incognito in a stable in Bethlehem will be very different from his second coming, when he will descend in the clouds, come with glory to judge the living and the dead, and every knee will bow. And then this from Revelation 21:3-5, “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things is passed away. Behold, I am making all things new!”

This is why, for the Church, it is always Advent. The word “advent” is based on an ancient Latin word: ad (to) and vent (come). To come. It’s all about waiting. And the focus is not so much on looking back at Jesus’ first coming, though that is how much of our society views it. It’s more about looking forward to Jesus’ second coming. And waiting for the fullness of God’s kingdom to come is challenging! It’s hard to wait for two thousand years! We get impatient. We get discouraged by the delay. We get distracted.

This series seeks to help us to live more into the reality of our waiting, just as All The Earth Is Waiting for the great final act of history. We will spend the four weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas Eve reflecting on what we are waiting for and how we can wait, culminating in remembering Jesus’ first coming as the assurance of his second coming.