Advent 2011

Advent Sunday (November 27 this year) was missed on this blog, but December 1 is nonetheless a good time to catch up as we enter the last month of 2011. Though the Advent wreath would have started on Sunday, Advent calendars start today.

Advent comes from Latin and means "coming." In the Christmas season, thoughts turn naturally to the first coming of Jesus Christ, as a baby, as a human: Emmanuel, God with us. But if we turn to the Greek word that the Latin translated, parousia (apologies for the transliteration), then the ancient-language and theologically minded crowd tends to think of a different coming, Christ's second. Thus, the Advent reminds us that Christ has come once, a fact we celebrate, and also that we await another coming, a return.