What Is Advent and Why Is It Important?

Advent is the season of reflective preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and for the expected return of Christ in His Second Coming.

The season of Advent lasts four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Each year, Advent will begin on the Sunday between November 27th and December 3rd. Advent 2024 will begin on Sunday, December 1st, and end on Saturday, December 22nd. 

While Advent is certainly a time of celebration and anticipation of Christ’s birth, it is more than that. It is only in the shadow of Advent that the miracle of Christmas can be fully understood and appreciated, and it is only in the light of Christmas that the Christian life makes any sense. 

Today the Advent celebration for Christians is a celebration of both the fulfilled promise of Christ’s first coming and the yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of his second coming. The promise for Israel and the church is Jesus Christ; The Lord has come to earth and will arrive again. This is the essence of Advent.

Excerpted from Christianity.com, read more at What is Advent? A Guide for the 2024 Holiday Season

“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
 And ransom captive Israel,
 That mourns in lonely exile here
 Until the Son of God appears.
 Rejoice! Rejoice!
 Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”