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“The answer to deep anxiety is the deep adoration of God.” –Ann Voskamp

The Advent season is here.  Even though I was not raised in this tradition in my rural Baptist church, I have come to appreciate much about it, not just candles or calendars or wreaths, but the taking hold of the meaning of Christmas.  Within our culture where crass, commercial Christmas can appear to be anything but spiritual, emphasis on heart preparation for the celebration is sorely needed.

Advent means “coming,” a term central to the Christian faith in many ways.  If observed in truth, Advent allows participants to get ready for Christmas in the most important ways, beyond gifts, food, parties, and entertainment.   As the weeks of Advent pass, the invitation stands to embrace the coming part, the waiting, the getting near something so wonderful this world cannot contain it.

Code talk around our house for getting near something is “I smell the ocean.”  I will explain.  In our younger years, when we took summer trips to the coast in a Suburban loaded with kids, we often left in the wee hours of the morning, so that they would sleep most of the hours on the road.  On one memorable trip, we were making excellent time as the children all slept, or so we thought.  As we approached Raleigh, our youngest son, about five years old at the time, yelled out unexpectedly, “I smell the ocean!”

Now, he may have had an extraordinarily keen sense of smell, but more likely, his anticipation of being near the ocean caused his imagination to bring that smell to mind.  His excitement about getting to the ocean overwhelmed his little heart to the point he sensed the water long before we reached it.

That kind of anticipation is what Advent means to me, the invitation to get ready for the coming of the Lord, to long for it.  As commonly taught, that coming refers to the birth of Jesus, the coming of His spirit into this life, and the His return.  In this present darkness, we desperately need the expectation of God’s intervention into the mess of human life on this planet.  “What is this world coming to?” is routinely asked in response to yet one horror story more in the news.  The response is usually a sad, wag of the head with no answer.

The message of peace on earth, goodwill toward men is contradictory to wars, murders, abuse, hate, greed, betrayal, selfishness, and all the other outcroppings of human nature.  Jesus’ first coming offers an escape from that entrapment, and his coming daily gives hope and encouragement to remain faithful because He promised to be with us, even to the end of the world.

If I did not believe an end is coming to the hideous murder and abuse of innocent little babies and children, I would despair of another day.  If I did not believe that the oppressed would find justice, the persecuted find relief, the hurting find healing, cynicism would overtake me.  Advent offers the hope of the coming restoration of all things.

Ann Voskamp in her Advent devotional “The Greatest Gift” says, “The answer to deep anxiety is the deep adoration of God.”  Society gives us unlimited reasons to experience on-going, daily deep anxiety.  To be human is to suffer, but Advent points to the living hope, the coming of an awesome God now and always to be with us in sorrow and in joy.

Isaiah 9:2 foretold the Savior’s birth: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”  That light still shines, perhaps brighter at Christmas for those who sense, like a little boy with heart overwhelmed in longing for the ocean, something wonderful is coming.  Yes, I smell the ocean, too.