On a December morning in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, children and teachers were likely gearing up for a day filled with gluing cotton balls onto Santa beards when a 20-year-old man came into the school shooting and killing 20 children between the ages of six and seven. Six adults were also killed. There should be a bigger and weightier word than “tragedy,” but I can’t find one.
In the days and even years following the murder and death of 27 humans, we focused on mental health: how has the human brain and emotions gotten so perverted? It also focused on guns: how did humanity create such efficient, cold, and callous tools for death? I remember talking about safety: why can’t we protect our most young? What happened was death. It was evil. It was sin. And while for many of us in America it was a shock to our system, this was also just another news story in the grand scheme of genocide, greed, war, abuse, assault, murder, and terror. This is our world. One of the reasons I love the Bible is not just it’s beauty and purpose, but also its realism; the story of the world is not right. The reason I’ve given so much of my life to reading the Bible is because it also offers the story of what will make the world right, new, and beautiful. Strangely, Advent takes us into both the broken and the hope.
The Story of Advent
One of the best Advent passages is found in Genesis 15:1-6. There’s a great one in Deuteronomy 18:15-19, and still another inspiring one in Psalm 89:1-4. But, before we get into those, let's go to the first one: Genesis 2:1 — 3:15 and work our way back.
Genesis 2 is the arrival of the world with humans. What a thought. The beginning of humanity. Genesis 2 describes the perfect garden for humans to thrive. There are rivers and trees and animals. And God (like a potter) forms man, breathing into the nostrils, life. Imagine that! God so close in creation that He put His breath in him and that breath creates life. Humanity doesn’t exist apart from God’s intimate presence and generosity. God walks with the Adam in the cool of the day, in rest and in labor. Then creates for Adam human relationship. Human companionship. When Adam sees Eve, he says: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Believe it or not, this the beginning of the Advent Story.
Next, Adam and Eve rebel against the living God who breathed life into them. The Maker and Sustainer of their entire universe. The Serpent came and asked: “Did God really say if you eat it you will become like God? He doesn’t want that.” Then eating the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they knew shame, hiding, and guilt. But, God comes to them. He calls to them. He asks for them. This is the second act of Advent; God came to humanity (even in the early pages of this story), seeking the ones He loved. He also comes explaining justice—the brokenness of shame, guilt, and striving to be god will result in catastrophic relationships, work, birth, environment, futility, and separation from the source of Life. In this second act, God seeks the people He formed to be His image and declares the reality of rebellion away from Him: a life of death. He informs them of a different world, a world we inhabit today.
But in the midst of that curse, God gives a promise: a Child or Seed from Eve will oppose and do battle with Evil—with the Serpent. The Serpent will be destroyed, but it will cost the life of this Heir of Adam and Eve. One day, a child of Eve will crush the Serpent and be bruised. The promise of redemption and restoration one day. This is the third act of Advent: Promise. Hope. This is the one we often inhabit, of God’s plan to re-create the world. God’s promise to send a Savior.
There are many promises. In Genesis 15, God promises to create a family that will bless the whole world. That the heir to Abraham will be a blessing. Blessing here isn’t a little gift; it’s a making right. Hope from a Child. Hope from a Family. In Deuteronomy 18,