Some evangelicals may also hold the perception that Advent is not biblical because it is nowhere mentioned in Scripture.
Evangelicals often find themselves “divorced” from church history and tradition. Some may come from Low-Church backgrounds that place greater emphasis on topical preaching and personal piety than on following the historical church calendar to order services or using call-and-response prayers communally.
But recovering an understanding of church tradition can shed light on why Advent is a biblically grounded season in which believers may shape their faith according to God’s Word and truth.
“Evangelicals should study [church] tradition, for we are not the first to seek answers to difficult questions and problems in theology. However, we must not elevate the tradition to inviolable, authoritative status,” wrote Baptist theologian Roger E. Olson.
Advent reflects the Bible in highlighting the centrality of Christ and his salvific work, Episcopalian priest Fleming Rutledge argues.
“Advent always begins in the dark. But there is a ‘but,’ and we find it revealed in the story that the scriptures tell,” Rutledge wrote.
“That is the Advent message: In a world of profound darkness and distress, pervasive sin and evil, we look to the one true light—Christ Jesus, the Son of God.”
Some Christians might hold the view that liturgical worship should be patterned only after New Testament texts and not on its historical development over the centuries, says Gener, the Filipino theologian.
But the formation of the Christian liturgical year—Advent included—goes back to how the early church incorporated cultural practices of their day into their worship life.
“Jewish synagogue practices and festivals were assumed and shared by Jesus and his disciples, and these practices were refashioned by Christ’s disciples in light of the Christ event, which evolved later into historic Christian worship,” Gener said.
Lula Derœux, a Baptist pastor in France, finds it meaningful to observe Advent even if the Bible does not explicitly mention it: “If the Bible doesn’t tell us how and when to celebrate the birth of Christ, the Bible encourages us to remember and to build our relationship with God.
“Our need to celebrate, to prepare our longing hearts and to praise the Lord in the waiting transcends all cultures and all ages.”
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