Everyone has their favorite Advent song...wait...you don't? Ok so unlike Christmas songs, it's not so easy to rattle off a list of catchy or popular songs for the first season of the liturgical year. There aren't any songs about lighting purple and pink candles (probably for the best) but for Christmas there are songs about anything and everything remotely related to the holiday from the three wise men to grandma getting trampled by reindeer.
Luckily we have Matt Maher...
Advent is a time of waiting, hope and preparation for the celebration of the birth of the Messiah. The word Advent is derived from the Latin word meaning "coming" and during these four weeks we anticipate the coming of Jesus. The Advent candles lit each successive week during the season represent Hope, Peace, Joy and Love and help us focus on a unique aspect of this period of preparation. It is often extremely difficult to truly focus during this season on preparation for the birth of Jesus when we are bombarded by Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving and easily wrapped up in the material aspects of Christmas. If only we had some good Advent music to help us focus during this period of time!
See below video of Matt Maher's new songs "Hope for Everyone" from his new album, The Advent of Christmas.
Here it is folks, a good Advent song! Who knew it was even possible? Seriously though, Matt Maher does a great job with this song and the entire album setting the stage for the season of Advent and preparing listeners for Christmas. The song's chorus perfectly summarizes the purpose of the season:
"We are waiting on the promise For the One who lights the darkness Bending low to be among us Bring Your glory in the highest, Jesus"
We are waiting for the Messiah, promised to the Israelites in the Old Testament, who they had been waiting hundreds of years for. God sent His Son into the world to bring His glory among us! This is what we are preparing for and this is why there is hope for everyone. Jesus is the only thing that can light the darkness in our lives; infinitely more than any gift we will give or receive.
This year let's all make an extra effort to take a few minutes each day before getting consumed by shopping, wrapping, parties and stress to remember that this is a season of hope. Maybe getting yourself a copy of Matt Maher's album as an early Christmas gift could help you (we're not getting any kickbacks on that).
Happy Advent!