A REVERSE ADVENT
An advent calendar is a special calendar used to count down the days until Christmas. The calendar typically begins on 1 December and counts down until either 24 or 25 December, depending on the specific calendar. Usually, there is a small gift to be taken each day of the countdown as the counter anticipates Christmas Day.
In recent years, reverse advent calendars have become quite popular. In this tradition, rather than taking something each day in anticipation of Christmas, the counter gives something each day. The idea is to change the focus from consumerism to generosity. You begin with an empty box and each day you put something into the box—food, toiletries, or Christmas treats—which is then given away to the needy as a Christmas hamper when the box is full.
For the next few days, I want to pick up on this theme of a reverse advent. I am not storing anything up and there will be no giveaway at the end of this, but for the next four devotions, I want to focus on four physical or bodily “comings” of Christ, but in reverse order.
A Reverse Advent: Incarnation (Philippians 2:5–11)
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” claims Andy Williams. He adds that it is “the hap- happiest season of all, with those holiday greetings and gay, happy meetings when friends come to call.” Christmas is certainly, for most of us, a time of great cheer. It’s...
A Reverse Advent: Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1–11)
The December 2017 edition of National Geographic included a Kristin Romey article titled, “What Archaeology is Telling Us about the Real Jesus.” Touring the Holy Land, and walking the roads the Gospels claim Jesus walked, she sought to sift historical fact from...
A Reverse Advent: Ascension (Daniel 7:13–14)
As we count down the days till Christmas, we are continue to consider some of the physical “comings” of the Lord recorded in Scripture, moving backwards from his future, bodily return to his first coming as a babe in the manger. The second “coming” we want to consider...
A Reverse Advent: Return (1 Corinthians 15)
Christianity has historically taught that Jesus will come back bodily to earth at some unknown point in our future, when he will resurrect the dead and usher all humanity into a final judgement. For all the debate that surrounds eschatology (the doctrine of last...