|
ADVENT--THE NATIVITY FAST
Many faithful people had waited a long time for the coming of Jesus. God had promised to send a Savior to His people hundreds, and even thousands, of years before Jesus was born on earth. During that long period of time when people were waiting for the Savior, God spoke to prophets -- holy men and leaders among His people -- and told them how He wanted His people to prepare for the coming of His Son. He told them that they must repent, change their way of living, make peace with one another care for each other, and be obedient and faithful to God. Every year, during these forty days, we also wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus. We also wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus. We repent of our bad habits and try to change our way of living. We think about how we have behaved toward other people, and we try harder to be helpful to our friends, our neighbors and members of our family. We also try to be faithful and obedient to God in all that we do. Through fasting and extra effort in prayer, we try to prepare both our bodies and minds to receive Jesus into our lives and homes. Forty days can seem like a very long time to wait for something; it is more that one
month, almost six weeks. We know how anxious we are when a birthday or anniversary is
approaching., We want to start planning a party and inviting our friends. If we are
preparing for someone else's special day, we begin thinking about the kind of gift we wish
to give them. As the day draws near, we can hardly wait to begin the celebration. When we
stop to think about it, we realize that part of the enjoyment of each celebration is the
time we spend getting ready for it and waiting for it. The Church helps us to get ready
for the celebration of Jesus' birth. First, the Church issues an announcement, like an
invitation, telling us that the Feast of the Nativity is approaching. Then, during the
last weeks of November and the beginning of December, there are more announcements made
which tell us what to look for as the feast approaches and how to get ready. These are the
days on which some of the announcement are made: November 15 This is the first day of the Nativity Fast, which begins forty days before Christmas.
It is a good day for deciding how we should spend these days of Lent, what we should do to
try to improve our way of living, and how we should spend our time in order to allow more
time for prayer and preparation for the coming feast. On this day, we might mark the
special days on the calendar that lead us to Christmas, or, we might begin to make an
Advent Calendar to help us keep track of the days before Christmas. We can also start an
Advent Chain of good deeds that can be used to adorn our Christmas Tree. November 21 This the day of a major feast which commemorates the Entrance of the Theotokos into the
Temple. It is a feast in honor of Jesus' mother, mother, Mary, and it marks the first
announcement that is given in the Church of the coming of Jesus. During the Matins
service, the words, 'Christ is born! Glorify Him!" are sung for the first time. They
will be sung at every Sunday Matins service until Christmas. You can use this announcement
along with the prayer that is suggested when you light the candies on your Advent Wreath
or Star each week. November 30 The last day of November is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. During the services
commemorating the life of St. Andrew, the Church adds two more hymns which tell us what
will happen on the day of Jesus' birth. December 6 This day is dedicated to the memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The life of St.
Nicholas is a good example for us to follow if we want to learn how to care for and help
one another. In the services on this day, we hear another hymn which tells us how the
whole earth prepares to glorify the birth of Jesus. The Two Sundays Before Christmas The first of these days is called the Sunday of the Forefathers. The verses from
the services on this day tell us how the people of the Old Testament prepared for the
coming of the Savior the Sunday before Christmas is the Sunday of the Fathers The
services repeat some of the same hymns that were sung on the Sunday of the Forefathers.
The Gospel lesson read on this day lists all the generations of the ancestors of Jesus who
lived on earth. During these weeks you may want to make a Jesse Tree (Jesse was one of
Jesus' Old Testament ancestors) to show who some of these ancestors and faithful leaders
of God's people were. Bible Readings (one for each day of Advent)
|
