Advent: A Baptist View, or “So…when exactly is New Year’s Eve this year?”

Did you know that Saturday, November 29 is the Christian “New Year’s Eve?” Easy there–the Parson hasn’t slipped a cog.

I know that the Civil Year doesn’t end until December 31, but in the Christian reckoning of the year, November 29 is the CHRISTIAN YEAR’S “New Year Eve.” What meaneth this? Is this some kind of tom-foolery?

Well…in the historic and traditional Christian calendar, Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year. And this year, Advent begins on November 30. Advent always begins on the Fourth Sunday before Christmas Day.  The Advent season ends on Christmas Day, December 25.  

Not every Baptist church celebrates Advent…and that is the sure and certain prerogative of churches in the “free church” tradition such as our is. However, more are doing so, possibly as a way to keep the focus on the real meaning of the season instead of the creeping commercialism that calls us to start celebrating Christmas on November 1.

Lest you think the Parson has somehow slipped the bonds of denominational loyalty, note that our Southern Baptist denominational supply house seems to think celebrating Advent is a good idea, as you can see here and here, just to cite a few examples.

To me, the most important thing to consider when deciding about following the Christian year either as an individual or a church is that recognizing Christ’s Lordship extends over all of our lives, most certainly including our calendar. That Christ is Lord of our reckoning of time is certainly biblical, if we believe Colossians 1:18, that He is head of all things, and should be given the pre-iminence in all things.

Hey…if you say “but the Bible doesn’t tell me to celebrate Advent or Christmas for that matter,” then consider that it doesn’t tell you to celebrate Independence Day, Mother’s Day, Labor Day or New Year’s Day. But, we do. So, if we can celebrate secular holidays like Labor Day, then there is certainly nothing wrong for Christians to celebrate traditional church holidays and seasons. It’s true, the old Puritans had a BIG problem with the so-called Christian calendar and they rejected any celebration of Christmas as “popish.” If you’ve never read it, get a copy of The Diary of Samuel Sewall, and see how Judge Sewall reacted against observances of Christmas in colonial New England. Sewall was a judge in colonial New England who kept a great diary of his life. A devoted believer, he noted with extreme disapproval any business that closed for Christmas, and shuddered at any churchly observance of the date of December 25.

Their argument was that only the Lord’s Day was to be kept holy. It should be kept in mind that the objections they had were aimed at the way the festivities were carried out…too many made the holidays an occasion for drunkeness and revilries. Definitely not cool. So, the old Puritans just decided to throw the baby out with the bath water: a common mistake, but in my view an unjustifiable solution when others were possible. Incidentally, the Puritans objected to singing hymns and having choirs, too. So…

Some believers have cited Paul’s objections to the Galatians in Galatians 4:10, ”Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years” as a reason to object to Christian holidays (such as the famed Presbyterian commentor Albert Barnes of “Barnes’ Notes” fame), but I don’t think that holds up–the Apostle Paul was speaking about the folly of Gentile Christians keeping Jewish holy days as obligatory and binding on them (which is the interpretation of A.T. Robertson, the famous Baptist Greek scholar, in his Word Pictures commentary).

It seems the Galatians were being duped into thinking they had to keep the ritual observances of Judaism AND believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. Paul wanted to set them straight–they did not have to first become Jews in order to be true Christians. The Galatians were “keeping” certain days as a “work”–something to earn them favor with God. That was futile and contrary to the Gospel of Grace.

It would not be proper to apply this passage in Galatians to Christians who are keeping distinctly Christian observances, for that was certainly not what Paul was warning against. I’m not arguing for observing Saints’ days, days that honor Mary, or anything like that, but there is nothing inappropriate or non-protestant about marking the great events in the life of our Savior with a calendar date. A voluntary observance and recognition of Advent, Christmas, Holy Week, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and Transfiguration Day is very different from something required. There can be no “Holy Days of Obligation” in Protestantism. That is NOT what I’m saying we have to do with Advent or any other Christian calendar date. I’m merely saying that if we look into past Christian practice, the season leading up to Christmas was used as a time to reflect on His Second Coming as well as His first, and was used as a time to reflect on what should really matter most to us in this life, that we might be better prepared for the life to come.

There’s gold in them thar history books, golden ideas and concepts for our spiritual formation, if we would but look into our Christian past and see how believers down through the years have marked the major events of the life of our Lord.

In conclusion, I engaged in all this bit of apologetics for the Christian year simply to say that I believe Advent is a good time to consider and be mindful of the promised Return of Christ as much as it is to think about his First Coming. Both “advents” are important–the first, for the Incarnation and all that it means to us as Christians, and the second, for the Return of our Lord for His bride, the Church. Let’s keep both “advents” in our minds as we march on toward December 25.

So, then happy Christian New Year! Even so, Lord Jesus, COME!

©Baptist Parson, 2008. All rights reserved.