Does Advent even matter when the world is on fire?
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Advent
13 min read
The article centers on the theological and spiritual significance of Advent as a liturgical season. Understanding its historical origins, traditions across denominations, and the symbolism of the Advent wreath and candles would deepen appreciation of the essay's themes.
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Isaiah
11 min read
The article quotes Isaiah 35:3-4 as a central prophetic text for Advent hope. Learning about Isaiah's historical context, his role during the Assyrian crisis, and the structure of the Book of Isaiah would illuminate why his words resonate in times of crisis.
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Immanuel
11 min read
The essay culminates with 'Immanuel, God with us' as the theological anchor of Advent. Understanding the Hebrew meaning, its original context in Isaiah 7:14, and its interpretation across Jewish and Christian traditions provides essential background for the article's message.
Hi friends,
Advent begins today. Many of us are already preparing our homes and our communities to observe this season of the Church calendar.
But some part of us is wondering: how could we possibly enter into Advent if we are paying attention to this world?
How do we celebrate or “get cozy” or turn towards Christmas when our hearts are broken by the devastating fire in Hong Kong, by world-order upending tariffs taking a real toll on working people, by the USA’s ICE detention camps and raids, by broken treaties, by missing children, by the ongoing war in Ukraine, by the genocide in Gaza, by one another? What is the point of lighting candles when the bills are hard to pay and relationships are broken, our hearts are heavy and our neighbours are cold? When, in response to every crisis, our communities seem splintered and divided even in how to bind up each other’s wounds? When perhaps we are lonely or bored or tired or sick or broke or afraid? When we are grieving and sad?
In these days, celebration can seem callous and uncaring, if not outright impossible.
But here’s the thing: we enter into Advent precisely because we are paying attention.
It is because everything hurts that we prepare for Advent. It’s because we have stood in hospital rooms and gravesides, empty churches and quiet bedrooms, over news feeds and city hall hearings that we resolutely lay out candles and matches.
We don’t get to have hope without having grief. Hope dares to admit that not everything is as it should be, and so if we want to be hopeful, first we have to grieve. First we have to see that something is broken and there is a reason for why we need hope to begin with.
Advent matters, because it’s our way of keeping our eyes and our hearts and our arms all wide open even in the midst of our grief and longing.
The weary world is still waiting in so many ways, in so many hearts, in so many places, for the fullness of the Kin-dom of God to come.
Advent is for the ones who know longing.
So that is what we listen for and what we mark and why we wait and light candles and read Scripture in preparation over these long winter nights: that
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