The season of Advent, which begins this Sunday, marks the beginning of a new year in the calendar of the church. Advent is a period of four weeks of preparation ahead of the joyous celebration of Christmas, marking the birth of Jesus, and the season of Epiphany, recognising that with the birth of Jesus, “the light of the world” has been revealed.
There is a parallel of a kind with the season of Lent, which is a longer period of 40 days of preparation leading into the high days of Easter, remembering the last meal, arrest, and trial of Jesus, his crucifixion and burial, and his raising from the dead and appearing to his followers. And following after these central days, there is the whole 50-day season Easter, in which the presence of the risen Jesus in the church is remembered.
Each season builds in anticipation towards a climactic moment in the story of Jesus. During Advent, the lectionary offers us a process to build towards the Christmas celebration by offering passages from Gospel, Epistle, Prophets, and song-like selections (both from the Psalms and the Gospel) which celebrate the joyous notes of salvation found scattered throughout scripture.
These passages begin on Advent 1 by affirming that God will fulfil promises made earlier (Jer 33:14–16), giving thanks in joyfulness (1 Thess 3:9–13) and recalling the mercy, steadfast love, and faithfulness (Psalm 25). The selection from the Gospel is drawn from the final apocalyptic discourse of Jesus (which runs through Luke 21, verses 8–36), where he speaks about “dreadful portents and great signs from heaven”, deception and warfare, and “great distress on the earth and wrath against this people”. Yet the final section of this speech (Luke 21:25–36) points towards the time when “your redemption is drawing near” (v.28) and “the kingdom of God is near” (v.31). It is an invitation to anticipate and to celebrate.
For Advent 2, the prophetic word comes from two prophets: Malachi declares that God “sending my messenger to prepare the way before me” (Mal 3:1–4) and Zechariah looks with hope towards a time when “in the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us” (Luke 1:68–79). The lectionary shares the deep confidence of those waiting for “the day of the Lord” (Phil 1:3–11), and a reminder that, in the coming of Jesus, “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6). The sense of celebratory anticipation continues to build.
Then, for Advent 3, further prophetic words sound forth from Zephaniah, urging people to “rejoice and exult with all your heart” (Zeph 3:14), and from Isaiah, celebrating the salvation that comes from God and rejoicing that “great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isa 12:1–6). These words of hope and joy are accompanied by Paul’s exhortations to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4–7) and the prophet John’s proclamation of “good news” regarding “one who is more powerful than I is coming”—which includes stern reminders about the importance of acting with equity and justice (Luke 3:7–18).
It is that sense of justice which imbues the prophetic words attributed to the young Mary, which we hear on Advent 4. Mary “magnifies the Lord” and anticipates that the Lord God will have “scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts … brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly … filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:46–55). These words resonate with an older oracle spoken by Micah, who looked towards “one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days”, one who would bring peace and security to the people of Israel (Micah 5:2–5).
These two oracles sit alongside the psalmist’s acknowledgement of the reality of hardship and even infidelity amongst the people of God, whose story has been that the Lord God has “fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure”. Nevertheless, the psalmist is confident that faithful people will know that God has come to save them (Ps 80:1–7).
And so the lectionary offers also words from an unknown writer, addressing a “word of exhortation” to “the Hebrews” in the assurance that “it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:5–10). (My personal view is that this passage sits rather oddly in the sequence of passages offered during Advent, with its priestly focus on sacrifices and offerings pointing to a different aspect of the story of Jesus—one which is more fitting to the Lenten period just before Easter.)
In these four weeks, the notes of hope and confidence, joy and justice, resound with increasing intensity, as we draw closer to Christmas. And for that festival, in a sequence of three passages from Isaiah, the three men whose work is collected under this single name declare the hope that marks the season, just as it had marked the people long ago in Israel.
Alongside these prophetic words, the lectionary offers three joyful songs (Psalms 96—98), the same notes of joy and justice are sounded yet again, even as the Gospel passage offers the story of the birth of Jesus as Luke tells it (Luke 2:1–20), climaxing in “good news of great joy for all the people” (v.10) and the angelic hymn, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!” (v.14).
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An Informed Faith 