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A new church year begins today
What you need to know:
Advent season. The liturgy of the Advent season should put Christians in a vigilant disposition to wait for coming of Jesus Christ. As John Henry Newman observed, “Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of joy because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation, but it is also a time of commitment.”
Today is the first Sunday in Advent which also marks the beginning of a new liturgical year which is commonly known as church year. Advent is a season observed by Christians worldwide as a time to reflect, wait and prepare for the celebration on Christmas Day of the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man and Son of David. The term Advent is derived from the Latin word adventus.
As believers in God remember and celebrate with great joy the first coming of Jesus Christ, they also anticipate and look forward to the second coming of Christ the King, on a day which only God the Father knows, to judge the living and the dead.
Advent provides a golden opportunity for Christians to share their longing for the first coming of the Messiah, to be alert of his second coming and to renew commitment to the faith we profess in Christ the King.
While all of us who are alive today missed the first coming, nobody will miss and nobody can escape the second coming which Scripture warns will be a time of distress for nations, trepidation and tribulation.
Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Messiah 700 years before it happened. He wrote: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him; the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding; the Spirit of counsel and of power; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.” Isaiah 11 v 1-3 (NIV)
“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious.” Isaiah 11 v 16 (NIV)
The liturgy of the Advent season should put Christians in a vigilant disposition to wait for coming of Jesus Christ. As John Henry Newman observed, “Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of joy because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation, but it is also a time of commitment.”
A popular hymn sung during Advent is titled, O Come, O come, Emmanuel. The second stanza of that hymn says: “O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free. Thine own from Satan’s tyranny; from depths of hell thy people save, and give them victory over the grave. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel; shall come to thee, O Israel.”
Whenever I sing this beautiful Advent hymn, it reminds me of the tyranny which has been imposed on Ugandans for more than three decades. It is, to all intents and purposes, similar to Satan’s tyranny which the hymn talks about. I believe there is something fundamentally and intrinsically evil and unacceptable about these two manifestations of tyranny.
Meaning and significance of Advent
Like all beginnings, Advent means a lot to people of faith and plays a central and significant role in Christian doctrine. For a country like Uganda which is rooted and built on Christianity, the Advent season is an appropriate time to reflect on the past, present and future of our beloved country which has gone astray like lost sheep.
Ugandans must not allow one man or a clique of fortune hunters to grab or hijack our country and its enormous resources for selfish gain when these resources are a precious gift from God who has provided them for our common good.
The gifts of God must, therefore, be shared fairly and equitably among all Ugandans without any discrimination whatsoever.
On this auspicious day when Christians remember and celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ, Ugandans should as a nation humbly repent and seek forgiveness from God our Father in heaven.
Ugandans from all walks of life should, in addition, pray to God for a new beginning, which our beloved country urgently needs and deserves.
Happy new church year!
