Looking Forward to Jesus' Second Arrival

You know that anticipation and anxiousness you feel whenever you are expecting a package to arrive? If you’re able to track it online you may check it from time to time to see if it is going to arrive on time. Either way, if you’re like me, you look for that delivery person, be it a postal carrier, UPS, FEDEX, or whoever. You simply cannot wait to receive the package.

I remember two years ago, when I was looking forward to a baby who was going to come into my life. I had looked forward to this “package” coming for 9 months. As I saw the baby on the sonogram, I was elated. Each time I heard the heartbeat, I leaped with joy. Each time I saw or felt the baby kick I just couldn’t wait to hold him. Then the day came that I did get to hold him. I was not disappointed! My son was awesome!

This is the beginning weekend of Advent. In our traditions we don’t normally celebrate or observe it. After being willing to speak at our local Advent “luncheons”, I had to do some looking as to what Advent is all about. The word basically means “arrival”. As December 25th, Christmas, has been set to be the observance of Jesus’ birth, Advent is all about the observance of looking forward to Him coming. He has come once, through a mortal woman in a manger in Bethlehem. For some, that is something to recognize during the holidays. However, there is another “package” that is coming, Jesus’ second coming. When is that going to be, we don’t know. However, we can look forward to His arrival with a sense of awe, anxiousness, and anticipation. That is a reason to celebrate. That is the reason to observe Advent.

I don’t know if I will ever put an Advent calendar or candle in my home to look at through the month. Along those same lines, I don’t expect you to. I think that church people tend to presume a lot about other church people and their traditions based on one’s own traditions, rather than investigation or participating. You may not call it “Advent” but I’ll bet you are looking forward to the time when Jesus comes back!