Advent: Wait

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Have you ever wondered about this song, like, why Israel is captive, or why they are mourning in exile? And why are they mourning in exile… here. Here. Where you are. Where I am.

It is a Christmas favorite, but honestly it was never meant to be sung in conjunction with songs like “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”

Why are we singing about Israel at a time like this? It’s Christmas! Where are the cookies?

There are multiple things going on in this song that point us to a greater element of this time of the year. The Church Calendar celebrates this time (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) as the Church’s New Year. This season is called Advent.

Christmas by culture’s standards is “the most wonderful time of the year”. It is more and more about the glitter and the glam, the lights, the presents, and Grandma getting ran over by a reindeer. 

But the tradition of advent calls Christians to slow down and think more about what the season truly means. 

If we take culture’s stance on this season, Thanksgiving and Christmas become a blur of craziness. The calendar starts merging into sales peaks. Black Friday has completely engulfed Thanksgiving. It is so easy to be swallowed up by the deluge of what the culture is purporting this season should be about. 

 







We’re living in a culture that’s all about opportunism, and it ends up steamrolling the calendars.

Advent keeps us from being finally left after the busyness, barely standing, holding a candle at church on Christmas Eve going, “Oh yeah, it really was all about the night when Christ was born.”

This is why the church’s counter-cultural tradition of Advent is worth remembering.

When we recover Advent, we turn down the volume on the culture and we turn up the volume on the Spirit of God. We let that voice guide us and remind us that this season is about a promise that God is going to do what God has promised He is going to do. 

That though we are trapped in the exile of sin and darkness, though we are feeling the angst of waiting on Christ to come again… we remember the faithfulness of His first coming. 

We wait. 

We wait, expectantly. 

We wait, with all the pain and baggage the year has brought on us. 

We wait, with the hurt and the pain. 

We wait, with all the uncertainty that tomorrow brings. The same uncertainty Mary and Joseph faced. 

We wait, placing our hope in someone greater than ourselves.

We wait, together.

We wait. 

This season, will you slow down and wait with me? 

Advent prepares us to meet our savior.

Will you feel the angst that this season is meant to bring, so that when Christmas comes… and we are singing “Silent Night”... The words, “Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!” can be shouted, can be belted, can be truly felt and become less about words to a song and more of our cry of worship.

Reclaim the season, not just the day.

Wait with me.


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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor living in Phoenix, AZ. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology. Nathan has a combined passion for unity and discipleship in the global church.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

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