From the earliest of Christian times, advent has been a season of waiting in eager anticipation of Christ’s return. In fact, the traditional church calendar doesn’t begin on January 1, but with the first Sunday of advent: we begin our Christian year in waiting! Not with “...the merriment of Christmas or the triumph of Easter. We do not begin with the work of the church or the mandate of the Great Commission. Instead, we begin in a place of yearning.” We wait with eyes and hearts ready to receive our King, but also looking back, rejoicing in God’s faithfulness in coming to us throughout human history. Advent reminds us that we’re invited into a relationship with the living God, who comes in Scripture’s story, who came in person, as promised, and will come in glory.