Embracing Advent in Student Ministry
How can youth workers help students walk (not run) during Advent, in order to help them consider the meaning of the first while renewing their confidence in the Advent-yet-to-come? Some traditions place Advent front-and-center in the church calendar, while it merely gets a head-nod in others. Whichever your church tradition may be, I believe it’s wise to think about some of the central Advent themes, and to consider how to emphasize those (rather than focusing on the expression and forms of Advent).
Arrival/Anticipation
“Advent” means “arrival.” Men and women in the Old Testament waited for the arrival of the promised Messiah. God’s people had long expected and anticipated the seed of Adam who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), the offspring of Abraham through whom all nations of the Earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:2-3), the son of David who would rule over and everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12-13), and the son of Man who would remove Israel’s heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh upon which the Law of the Lord would be written (Ezekiel 36:26-27). It is staggering to consider the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. The Old Testament is ripe with anticipation of the Messiah.
When talking about this theme with students, it can be meaningful to help them earnestly consider what it would be like to wait for the Messiah’s arrival. Even referring to a simple Old Testament timeline from your Study Bible can help students grapple with the long period of waiting our forerunners endured. Even though they literally should’ve known better, no one was expecting the type of Messiah God provided. This Christmas story that’s become so familiar was astoundingly unexpected.
Already/Not-Yet of Christ’s Arrival
Highlighting the theme of Arrival/Anticipation easily leads to our own anticipation: Jesus’ return. Old Testament saints waited for the Messiah to come, and some people eventually doubted this would ever happen, while others began to allegorize it. We find ourselves in a very similar situation today. Christians rarely give the return of Christ the weight it deserves. We are sometimes tempted to avoid talking about Christ’s return because we fear getting into arguments with each other over the particulars. But if we avoid this important component of the gospel in our ministries then students can begin to think of it as a fairy tale - a nice sentiment, but nothing with real significance.
Advent can be an incredibly poignant time to help students connect their own hopeful anticipation of Christ’s return with the same hopeful anticipation we read about in the Old Testament. Our faith in Christ’s return is not in vain. It can be tempting for us to grow impatient with God’s timeline, but that first Advent gives us hopeful endurance as we wait for the second Advent.
Advent Themes
The Themes of Advent aren’t canonical or inspired. It’s important to accept that although these themes are deeply ingrained into the way many of us think about Advent, there are indeed other ways to faithfully observe the season. And yet, these four themes have proven themselves over the centuries as helpful anchors to prepare believers’ hearts to celebrate the birth of Christ, while walking with anticipation towards his return. Over the years, I have embraced these themes as a four-week Advent series in youth group and I’ve integrated them into one tight message for students to reflect on the incarnation. May these descriptions help you discern your own approach to Advent this year (and in future years).
Hope. It makes sense this theme comes first. God has never left his people without hope. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned in Eden, in the midst of the curse on the serpent we see this thread of hope: “...He will crush your head and you will strike his heal” (Genesis 3:15). Throughout Israel’s formation and history, there are whispers of a promised messiah, an “anointed one,” who would come to rescue God’s people from sin and establish God’s kingdom on the earth… forever.
Peace. Shalom is a major emphasis throughout the Old Testament. When teaching students about biblical peace, I like to define peace as “freedom from war.” Oftentimes, that war is a literal war - marked by deadly opposition and struggle. At other times, we read about people who are experiencing inner-turmoil (see Psalm 6). Over and over again we see God’s people crying out to God for peace, and God rescues them. God fights for his people and provides the victory on their behalf, in order to settle them in peace. Ultimately, this peace would come not through a sword, but through the nail-pierced hands of the Lamb of God.
Joy. Imagine the people of God as joyless people. That would be strange. Those who proclaim, “God is my shepherd” and “The Lord is my refuge” to be quite miserable and joyless in their daily life. Of course, this doesn’t mean life will always be marked by happiness. But Israel’s national calendar is filled with memorials and holidays to ensure they celebrate and rejoice in the ways God has provided for and protected them (see Exodus 12’s description of the Passover festival). Those festivals drove Israel to their fulfillment in Christ. God’s disposition towards his people remains the same today… he will give us joy, even in the midst of trials, because we are more than conquerors by faith in Jesus Christ who has conquered sin and death (Romans 8:37).
Love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). This is one of the most well-known verses in the New Testament. But it’s not a new idea, as if God was really mean and angry in the Old Testament, and then chilled out and became more loving in the New. God has always dealt lovingly with his people, Israel. Even when they sinned and were disciplined by the Lord, it was always in order that they would repent and rekindle their affections for the Lord. Israel waited for a messiah who would embody the love of God for Israel. The clearest demonstration of God’s love for his children is met on the cross, where God gave his only begotten son in order to save his adopted children from their sin (John 3:16-17).
Each of the above paragraphs shares one simple way to anchor these important biblical themes in salvation history, leading to their fulfillment in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. However you embrace Advent in your youth ministry, I do want to encourage you to provide space for students to reflect on the mystery of the incarnation. Students’ lives are so busy, and the Christmas story has become so familiar to church-kids they rarely pause to think about what a great mystery it proclaims. Rather than rushing through big plans for the season, maybe it’s time to simplify the ministry and invite students to meditate on the message of Advent. Walk with them to the manger, sharing in the hopeful anticipation of our Old Testament saints while renewing our own faith in his second coming.
