1. Advent means “appearing”: it is a season focused on the hope of His appearing.
2. Advent is a time of preparation, not a long-winded pre-game. Like Lent prepares us for Easter, so Advent prepares us for Christmas.
3. During Advent we stand in the middle of the waiting of the People of God. We remember what it was like to wait for that First Appearing of Christ even as we ourselves look forward to his Second Appearing. We tell these two stories side-by-side.
4. Even as we wait, however, it does not mean we cannot share in foretastes of the future hope. The person who steals Christmas too early and the person who dourly refuses any seasonal festivities before the 24th are two sides of the same problem. Both lack hope. The person for whom all of November and December is Christmas-come-early lacks the hope required for hard waiting; the person who refuses all festivities with a “Bah-Humbug” lacks the hope which enables one to enjoy the foretastes as they are given without confusing it with the fulfillment. Wear that ugly Xmas sweater starting on the first Sunday in Advent! It’s not Christmas yet… but it's gonna be!
5. Incremental waiting is good work. All-or-nothing is usually indicative of an unhealthy constitution. Christmas should trickle-in to Advent in a way that increases anticipation.
6. The ancient church has Advent songs. Sing the ‘O Antiphons’ every week throughout Advent. Memorize them. Mark your waiting with the words the Church has sung in all its long centuries of waiting.
7. Seasons of intensified waiting, (e.g. Advent and Lent) make us say “Ah! What am I supposed to do while I wait?” The historic Christian answer to the pent-up frustration of waiting: Love thy neighbor. In the waiting find ways to intensify your love of your neighbors and neighborhood and where that love is lacking, to remedy it.
8. Christmas is twelve days, the anticipation built-up at Advent prepares us for the hard work of keeping the Christmas feast for the whole length of it.
9. Advent’s waiting doesn’t just give us time to prepare to celebrate the day of Christmas, it gives us time to prepare to keep Christmas: you can plan to go caroling to one or two friends’ homes during the twelve days and spend Advent learning the songs you’ll sing; you can plan to volunteer in one of the many outreach programs aimed at serving the needy during the Christmas season, do the research now and sign-up ahead of time; you can host parties, hold bible-studies, observe the feasts that fall during the twelve days, and ready yourself for Epiphany’s Bonfire –all of which takes Advent planning and preparation.
10. There are two great Christmas stories that usually require more than one sitting in order to be read-aloud with children: the Holy Nativity from Luke’s Gospel, and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Start reading those narratives in small sections now, during Advent, so that you can finish them upon Christmas.
11. Each Sunday during Advent has a particular theme placed upon it. Take those themes as themes of discipleship for your weeks of waiting: Wait upon the God of hope during the first week; conform your life to the Prince of Peace during the second week; rejoice in the God of your salvation on the week that follows Gaudet Sunday; and marvel at the greatness of God’s love during that fourth and final week. Allow the weeks of Advent to disciple you.
12. Sing! Sing in the waiting, sing-out your waiting. Anticipation is kind of what singing is, after all: even as I move through this section of the song, I find myself already looking forward to the next section of the song. Sing the psalms, sing other scriptures, sing good hymns of waiting (e.g. Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending, Hills of the North Rejoice, O Come O Come Emmanuel, The Canticle of Turning, etc.). Fill your lips with the sound of anticipation. Can’t wait for Christmas to come? Sing about your longing.