A few years ago I wrote a paper on spiritual theology in the form of a commentary on the seasons and days of the liturgical year. I’ll be posting those here over the next several days.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
A pagan year would begin with the rebirth of the god, showing the continuous cycle of death and rebirth in agriculture. A civil calendar would start with the birth of a new ruler or the inauguration of the ruling regime. The Church calendar begins with confession. The Christian year begins not with the celebration of Christ’s birth, but with the confession that we need the Redeemer to come. Before we celebrate the incarnation, we spend time preparing for the Coming One and remembering that all creation yearns for a Savior.
In Advent we state that everything is not all right in the world. Through the sin of the first Adam, God’s good creation became cursed. Through Adam and Eve sin entered into the world corrupting what God had created through His Word and His Holy Spirit. In the first chapter of the Bible and in the first act of history God is revealed as Holy Trinity, each Person participated fully in all the work of the Godhead. Sin effects all of creation – rocks, trees and chipmunks long for deliverance from the same sin that corrupts the authorities, powers and principalities. The sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, though bearing the image of God are corrupt as well, “in all aspects of their being.” (Confession of Faith, 2.03)
Due to our fallen nature, we need someone to liberate us from our “bondage to decay.” (Romans 8:21) As the Nicene Creed states, “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.”
Also, Advent reminds us that there is an end to history. We are not in a continuously unending cycle, but hope for the return of our Lord. This hope pulls us into the promised and certain reconciliation. Christ’s immanent Kingdom is not something we accomplish; nevertheless it is something in which we participate.