A season of Repentance
There are two main penitential seasons in the Church year. The most obvious is Lent, with its dark colors, strong discouragement of sin, and bloody conclusion: the Cross. The less well known penitential season is Advent. The repentant meditations of Advent do have a discernibly different tone, it should be noted. While Lent looks up toward the Cross, Advent looks upwards to the heavens from which Christ first descended in His taking flesh in the incarnation and from which Christ will return a final time to judge all flesh. These two events are parallel to each other as both are the entrance of the King of Creation into the world as redeemer of God’s people.
Guiding Scriptures
The Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent (Matt. 21:1-9) sets the tone and verse nine is a key to our understanding:
Matthew 21:9 NKJV — Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”
Beautiful, isn’t it? For the unrepentant and unfaithful it’s a terrifying reality. But, Christ’s forgiving Grace is available to all who repent and receive Faith in His promises. This is, actually, why we repent. Remember the parable of the ten virgins (the reading for the Last Sunday in the Church year, the Sunday before Advent):
Matthew 25:6-13 NKJV — “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ “Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ “But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ “But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
No Christian should see themselves as the foolish virgins. It is not the Christian life. The Christian life is one of repentance and forgiveness. Repentance requires an honest and objective understanding of yourself, which is only possible through knowledge of the Scriptures and spiritual disciplines. Human reason and thought will always come short in diagnosing our own sinfulness. A repentant life breeds watchfulness: watchfulness for Christ’s coming and vigilance over our own flesh and its sinful proclivities. Forgiveness, which always follows repentance, is the balm that strengthens the eyes sore from watching, the hands worn through by prayer, and the soul wearied by the cares of this world.
Where did Advent Come From?
Advent developed in Spain and in Rome around the 4th or 5th centuries (300-400 A.D.). Epiphany was, at the time, one of the biggest celebrations of the Christian calendar (bigger than Christmas, in some places, if you can believe it!). So, a season of repentance and spiritual discipline was agreed upon by the Church to lead into the celebration of Epiphany. Rome did celebrate the Nativity (Christmas) as well, so there is some disagreement about which feast day they were preparing for in Rome. Sometimes, the season was only three weeks long and involved fasting three days a week, increased Church attendance, and much prayer and Scripture readings. Other times it was lengthened up to six weeks. However, the purpose remained the same: train Christians to be vigilant, righteous, and knowledgeable about the things that pertain to salvation and life in this fallen world.1
As it happens, the translation of the Bible in use at the time, the Vulgate, translated parousia (in the Greek: fulfillment) to Adventus (in the Latin: coming or arrival) when discussing the fulfillment of Christ’s returning to this world in judgement. So, in a fitting way, the two arrivals, Adventi, of Christ are celebrated with expectation in the Advent season. As the Israelites waited for the birth of the Messiah, we wait for the final arrival of the Christ. As we meditate on these two motions, God coming to His people in the past and in the future, it is fitting for us to remember the above Scriptural warnings against foolishness and laziness. The season is peppered by a remembrance of this reality that, between these two comings of Christ, the full redemption of mankind took place. Just as Jesus paraded into the Holy City, seated on a donkey, as conquering king, so will He return. In between His triumphant coming as a baby and His glorious ascension, all things were placed under His feet and in His dominion!
[1Co 15:22-28 NKJV] For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those [who are] Christ’s at His coming. Then [comes] the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy [that] will be destroyed [is] death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under [Him],” [it is] evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
[Rev 20:1-3 NKJV] Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is [the] Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
Recommendations for Advent
In Advent it is wise to consider the ancient spiritual disciplines that have been handed down by the Church of ages to us. Consider fasting, consider adding a prayer service to your daily rhythm, consider practicing confession and absolution with your spiritual director (Pastor), use a confessional mirror like 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Gal. 5:21, or 1 Tim. 1:8-11 and, peering deeper than the physical condemnations, arrive at a spiritual analysis of yourself. There is a helpful guide in the Small Catechism teaching Christians how they ought to confess, it can be found here.
Here consider your station according to the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, a man-servant or maid-servant; whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, slothful; whether you have grieved any one by words or deeds; whether you have stolen, neglected, or wasted aught, or done other injury.2
I pray that Advent, for the saints of Zion Edgerton, is a time of deepening piety, deepening learning, and the birth of more and more love for the Scriptures and the gifts that God delivers to us in His service to us on Sunday mornings. As always, if you are interested in engaging in some of the practices described above, your pastor is here to help you. Don’t forget that we have a shared devotional plan this Advent! One reading a day that will help deepen your appreciation for the appointed Sundays of the season. It can be found here: Advent Devotion 2025.
If you are new, please consider joining us for worship! Time and location may be found below. God bless you all.
- Normand Bonneau, The Sunday Lectionary: Ritual World, Pascal Shape, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1948), 129-130. ↩︎
- Taken from https://bookofconcord.org/small-catechism/how-christians-confess/ ↩︎
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