For many Christians, Christmas is experienced as a season of comfort, peace, and abundance—a blessing for those who are able to receive it in such terms.
Yet it is worth asking whether Christmas is intended to serve not merely as a celebration of joy, but as an annual reminder of our profound need for a Savior to break into our darkness, our spiritual “homelessness,” and to confront us with the insufficiency of a passive or complacent faith.
Advent, the season of preparation for the Incarnation, may not be designed to leave us sentimental or self‑satisfied, but rather to challenge us to embrace our calling as those who are sent—to live as bold heralds of Christ’s coming and witnesses to His light in a world still overshadowed by despair.
“Celebrating Advent means learning how to wait.”
Bonhoeffer preached this in Barcelona on 2 December 1928. This was his opener.
He then went on to say,
“Not all can wait – certainly not those who are satisfied, contented, and feel that they live in the best of all possible worlds! Those who learn to wait are uneasy about their way of life, but yet have seen a vision of greatness in the world of the future and are patiently expecting its fulfilment. The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”
Not all can wait.
To celebrate Advent means to take our troubled souls on a journey of exploration. Those of us who know we are imperfect, and poor (in spirit) pilgrim walk through Advent hoping beyond hope that Christ will return.
He goes on,
“Perhaps we have thought so much of God as love eternal and we feel the warm pleasures of Christmas when he comes gently like a child. We have been shielded from the awful nature of Christmas and no longer feel afraid at the coming near of God Almighty. We have selected from the Christmas story only the pleasant bits, forgetting the awesome nature of an event in which the God of the universe, its Creator and Sustainer, draws near to this little planet and now speaks to us. The coming of God is not only a message of joy, but also fearful news for anyone who has a conscience.”
The people of Christ have every reason to rejoice, for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The promised Dayspring has come, “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:78–79). Yet we must also remember that the birth of Jesus is not only a gift of grace but also a declaration of judgment upon those who reject Him. The child in the manger is the same Lord foretold in Malachi 4:1–3, the One who calls His people to proclaim the Good News with boldness and conviction.
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