Baseball has Spring training. The NFL has preseason games. And in the today world, you have “the Christmas season” to get ready for Christmas Day. You have already seen Christmas Parades and the lighting of community Christmas Trees and homes covered with Christmas decorations. People will host Christmas parties all month long.

But in the church and the church year calendar, we have Advent, the season before the season. It is a season worth hanging on to, even if the world is ignorant of it or ignores it. There is no question that “the season” coming is Christmas. Emotionally, it is probably our biggest celebration as Christians. Even though our theology and liturgy point to Easter as the supreme festival, that does not make Christmas unimportant. It is important, because it is the reminder of how our Savior came into this world as one of us.

As followers of Jesus, we should remember that Christmas is all about Jesus and His taking on flesh to be one of us, Immanuel, God with us. Because this is such an important occasion, it is still a good thing for us to prepare for it. We should carefully observe the days leading up to Christmas. It would be a shame to let Christmas sneak up on you, to be unprepared or prepare poorly for this great festival. Even sadder still would be to miss the point of Christmas altogether. So we have Advent, “The Season Before the Season.” Remember, as far as the Church is concerned, the Christmas season has not yet begun. Advent is a time for us to prepare for the coming celebration.

Matthew 25:1-13  “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. “At midnight the cry rang out: `Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “`No,’ they replied, `there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. “Later the others also came. `Sir! Sir!’ they said. `Open the door for us!’ “But he replied, `I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The message of the parable is the same as one of the old Advent Hymns: “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.” In other words, be alert! Watch what you are doing! Observe carefully these days before Christmas. Be aware of what is going on. As serious as this message is, the parable used to convey it is actually a bit humorous. You know how people today like to inject some playful, surprising elements into the wedding scene? It was no different in Jesus’ day. We do things like throw rice, decorate and tie tin cans to cars, maybe hide something in the luggage of the newlyweds or hide the luggage itself! One of their little games back then had to do with the bridegroom’s arrival at the bride’s home before the wedding ceremony to claim her and her attendants. When he came, he would take them and the families and wedding guests to the wedding hall for the ceremony, reception and honeymoon. These events could last seven days or more! The playful part of it was the challenge of the bridegroom to arrive at the bride’s home at a moment that would catch her and her maidens unprepared. What better time to pull off such a surprise than the middle of the night? So the encouragement was for the maidens to be prepared with their lamps burning all night long.

Christmas is coming very soon, and this season before the season invites you to watch…wake…be ready…prepare…observe the days carefully. And what is it you are to be careful about during this season before the season? I think it is this: You should be aware that the coming season of Christmas is never complete in itself. The season of Christmas only has meaning and fulfillment in view of Good Friday and Easter.

To put this in visual terms Advent calls us to see a cross hovering over the manger. Many Christmas pictures do that for us, sometimes even forming the Christmas star into the shape of a cross. And Advent calls you to see that cross and all that it represents. The joy of the coming Christmas season comes to its fullness after repentance over sin and trust in the forgiveness that Christ earned on that cross and the victory of the open tomb. As you gaze into the quiet skies of a Christmas silent night, you need to see a triumphant, risen Christ coming toward you in Last Day victory. But right now, in this season before the season, Advent, you are called to see what it is about the coming season that can bring you to the genuine inner joy: For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given…a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!