Thought for Today

Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.

Deuteronomy 11:12 The eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.  

Luke 2:41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.

On Black Friday, I asked, “What makes Advent so special?” The next day, I pointed out that “It is easy to forget that Advent is an extended birthday party celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.” This morning, I am asking you and asking myself, “Why is Advent the beginning of our liturgical calendar, the start of our faith-year?” We understand Christianity in terms of our Jewish ancestry. Jesus was a Jew. The Jewish faith extends much further back in history, back to the Patriarchal narratives and back to Genesis 1:1. “James Ussher . . .  was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific Irish scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for . . .  his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation as "the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October ... the year before Christ 4004"; that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC, per the proleptic Julian calendar.” (en.wikipedia.org) “The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. . . Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe place the initial singularity at an estimated 13.787±0.02 billion years ago.” (en.wikipedia.org)

Irrespective of whether we base our faith on a creation 6029 years ago or 13.787±0.02 billion years ago, we are looking far back into the history of Creation itself. Just to add to the confusion, “Nowadays, Hebrew years are generally counted according to the system of Anno Mundi (Latin: "in the year of the world"; Hebrew: מבריאת העולם‎, "from the creation of the world", abbreviated AM) according to traditional Jewish interpretation of the chronology of the Hebrew Bible. This system attempts to calculate the number of years since the creation of the world according to the Genesis creation narrative and subsequent Biblical stories. The current Hebrew year, AM 5786, began at sunset on 22 September 2025 and will end at sunset on 11 September 2026.” (en.wikipedia.org)

So, “Why is Advent the beginning of our liturgical calendar, the start of our faith-year?” We are not starting our liturgical year on any of the days or dates associated with Creation. We are not even using the liturgical or civil dates our Hebrew brethren use today or those Jesus would have used 2025 years ago. “What makes Advent so special?”

I believe Advent marks the fulfillment of every covenant we find in our Bible. The birth of Jesus is the ultimate proof of the immutability of our Creator God. The Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, every covenant finds its fulfillment with the birth of Jesus.

Advent is a celebration of “God’s freedom from all change, understood to emphasize God’s changeless perfection and divine constancy.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 116) Advent is that extended birthday party celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.

Long ago, the prophet Jeremiah first wrote of God’s new covenant, “31:31 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

This coming Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent we will celebrate communion and hear Jesus’ own words in the Words of Institution, “This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And, hopefully, we will all remember that what God has promised, God has and will continue to fulfill.

Stay safe, celebrate, trust God,

Pastor Ray