The Keeping of Advent

By Deacon Peter Gill
Church of St. Colman, Middlefield


Rejoice! Advent is a time when our fears meet up with the promise.

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24). If Christmas Eve is a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent, with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown. This year, Advent begins on Dec. 2. The Liturgical color is violet. The Christmas season ends on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We return to Year A in the cycle of readings which features the gospel of Matthew.

It is interesting that liturgists speak of “observing” Lent, but “keeping” Advent. I like that reference to Advent: a keeping that is also a giving. It means holding something very dear inside one’s self, but not selfishly. Advent is precious time; a time to reflect on Mary’s pondering all the things that happened on the first Christmas and that ”she kept them in her heart.” During our keeping of Advent we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a feast that recognizes Mary as redeemed by God from the moment of her conception and born free of original sin.

Advent is a time when we keep in our hearts, as Mary did, the coming of Jesus Christ. But it is also a time to live our response to the Savior coming into the world, and to see how that changes our responses to each other and to God.

First, there is the outward response: the Scripture readings of Advent, the music we sing and hear, the decorations that grow in splendor each Sunday, climaxing in a burst of red and gold and green on Christmas Day.

Second, there is the inward response, or our personal response that comes from how we “keep” Advent. The keeping of Advent should lead us to the Child, and the Child will transform what we have kept into what we can now do.