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The word Advent comes from the Latin word “Adventus” which means It isn’t so much a title of a liturgical season as it is a statement of reality; a description of the ever present “now-not yet” dichotomy (poised tension) with which the church lives.

To properly celebrate Christmas means one must properly practice Advent. Christmas as it is indulged in both in North America and other parts of the west is about neither. Lest you misunderstand, I am not saying that the exchange of presents is bad; no not at all. Gift giving is good for it takes the focus off of self and allows one to serve his neighbor in even small acts of love and charity; but that’s not what the Incarnation is ultimately about.

You must “Advent” (that is wait) for the 25th of December to arrive—period. No matter how much you hate delaying gratification of any kind, the days still take 24 hours to run their course. This coming Sunday won’t arrive any faster than it will.

The wonderful events chronicled for you in Saint Matthew’s Evangel begin with an understanding that the Jews had been waiting; oh, how they had been waiting. God the second person of the Holy Trinity was not born on a whim. The Divine did not invade the realm of the physical as an afterthought or accident. The great “I AM” had been planning Matthew 1.25 and 2.1 since before Genesis 1.1. Only the Alpha and Omega could create, sustain, redeem back from death, feed and clothe unto eternity. Only God can be God. Failing to understand that truth, is the sin of Adam; the original trespass, and also your daily falling. Yes of course you “respond” to the Lord’s love and gifts, you radiate back to him His light and heat, like the mirror and soapstone He has made you, but you do not truly “do” as only He can. God had to appear in more than vision and dream to redeem; to work and die. God had to tabernacle in more than smoke, cloud and fire. He had to come as Man. Failing to comprehend this truth, is the trespass of many protestants who shun the Crucifix, the flesh and blood, the Supper, and the theology of the Cross (the daily theology of the Cross) for Glory, Growth, Emotions, and God-talk about “Father this and Father that.”

Adam was a man just like you. Adam and Eve were flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone, or better, the other way around, you are comprised of all that they were; same ingredients. They were enabled by the Lord at their creation to obey Him. They were given “what it took” to fear, love, and trust in the Lord above all things. They willfully fell; they intentionally threw it all away. Their sin is more than disobedience, it is death; death for all. Their fall was worse than murderous rebellion, it is tragedy—hubris leading to nemesis. As the ancient Israelites failed to obey, so too do all the members of Augsburg fail to keep the Law the way it must be kept—by human flesh—by men created originally in the Image of the Icon of God Himself: the Christ. AND THUS……

God simply could not come to Judea as a pillar of fire and “kill the devil.” God wanted to redeem and perfect man as man; man as flesh and blood. God came to Jerusalem as the “second Adam” the perfect Man of flesh and did what Adam was to have done; did what you are to do but can’t.

Thus there had to be a birth. But before a delivery there was the miraculous conception by the Spirit. Mary was the mother and the Holy Ghost was the “father” if you will. As the Divine “Breath” of the Trinity was breathed in to Mary’s womb the Third Person became the impregnator of the maiden. She who was pure virgin became pure Mother; Mother to God and symbolic Mother of all of us, the perfect “type” of the Church.

The girl had to be Virgin because the Church is Virgin. The Bride of Christ is pure, holy and chaste because the Lord Jesus has washed all of you clean and spotless in His Blood, a Man’s blood, but also the very Blood of God. Mary was physically virgin because she “knew not a man” but also because the Holy Ghost “overshadowed” her and gave her the Virginity that the Lord wanted her to have.

This was all part of the eternal mind of God; from before the beginning. The same Spirit who overshadowed the Nazarene Virgin is the same Spirit who overshadowed all of you at the Baptismal font [+] making you Virgin, Christian, Bride, and Saint. It is that same Holy Ghost who spake by the prophets. He spake by Isaiah, during the reign of Ahaz. He was the pen of a “ready writer” as King David had earlier prophesied (by the same Spirit). Isaiah had written that a “ha Almah” would bear a son. Higher critics and other non-believing pagans can argue “till the cows come home” on how to accurately translate the Hebrew of Isaiah into English, but for all of you who have been given the Word of God, He Who made all the words does His own translation when He gives Saint Matthew a very clear Greek word to use: “Parthenos,” which means sexual virgin and only sexual virgin. “Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son…”

And from henceforth all generations, that are followers of her son, have called her Virgin, because that is what she is, for that which is born from her is of the Holy Ghost: “and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated “God with us.”

The Advent was over. It was over for the children of Abraham for his “Seed” had finally arrived. The words of God the Holy Ghost were not only true, but true for the “Holy Family,” there at the House of Bread. For there, from the Divine oven of the Virgin’s womb, came forth the Bread of Heaven, the true Manna which takes you to the heavenly Promised Land. The waiting for God was over for He was/is Immanuel now and forever “God with us.”

If Immanuel means anything it means presence; it means a realness realer than real.

Abraham and Isaiah needed to have the commandments actually kept for them, not just a story about beautiful principles. Mary and Joseph needed to have a Redeemer Who would actually come and buy them back from Satan, the World, and the fallen flesh, by defeating Satan in the flesh (thus doing what Adam was to have done). They needed Immanuel not just a remembrance or a memorial of “the Father this and the Father that, and we just wanna thank you.” If Advent means anything to you it means that God is Truth; He doesn’t lie. Advent being true means He did come; and that He didn’t leave you; He’s here. Advent means that the Nativity is true, that the Incarnation is true. Mary being the “Blessed Virgin” means that the man Jesus is the God Christ. His person being true means that His work of obedience and dying for you is true. Immanuel means that it’s all true: for you.

If it means anything to you, and it does, for you are my fellow Virgins, my brothers and sisters, it means that you are waiting for Sunday; Christmas yes, but Sunday, the First Day, the Eternal 8th Day, the Mass Day! You wait because Immanuel is true. God is with you. He is with you during a simple Vesper service, a prayer office, to be sure, but how much more glorious is His Presence in the Holy Eucharist! Advent Ends this Sunday with Rorate Coeli, the Fourth Sunday. You will eat His Body and Drink His Blood. You will be forgiven and fed God, the Bread of Life. Advent begins as you wait until the Final Trump and the end of the ages. “For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do proclaim His death till He comes.”

In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost