Last Sunday, Nov. 29, was the first Sunday of Advent. Scot McKnight provides this helpful summary of Advent:
Advent is a season of waiting, expecting, and hoping. Beginning four Sundays prior to Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, Advent helps us to prepare for the coming, or “advent” of the Christ child at Christmas. (The word “advent” comes from the Latin word that means “coming.”)
Darkness is my closest friend (Ps. 88:18 TNIV). This line comes from the most painful poem in the Bible. It is written by someone who feels he is in the presence of the absence of God. “Day and night” the poet cries out to God. But day and night heaven is silent. So, the poet laments: Darkness is my closest friend. When the authors of the Bible describe what it’s like to experience the presence of the absence of God, they use the metaphor of darkness.