Early traditions of Advent focused on more than the manger.
Advent marks the four-week season leading up to Christmas dedicated to the arrival, or “advent,” of the annual commemoration of Christ’s birth. On each of the four Sundays preceding Christ’s Nativity, candle-lighting ceremonies celebrate themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. Historically, the holiday anticipated not only the incarnated presence of God as a manger-child but the return of that same person of Christ in a scripturally predicted Second Coming.
The Roots of Advent
The observation of Advent is cross-denominational and theologically uncontroversial. In American tradition, Advent is largely viewed as a Nativity observance and is often associated with Catholic worship. The deeper roots of the tradition extend to early Christian focus, not only on the…
