Prepare Him Room: How to Worship Through Advent

Indeed, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the frenetic activity of the holiday season. Some Christians observe a season of Advent as a way to make the holiday season more meaningful and worshipful. Whether or not your congregation formally observes Advent, the Christmas season offers every Christian countless opportunities to personally prepare our hearts and rekindle our worship of Christ the newborn King.

With Christmas, we celebrate that God enters into time and dwells among humankind. The very name Immanuel is a reminder of this idea — that God is now with us (Matthew 1:21). In the days and weeks leading up to Christmas day, consider how you might invite God to enter your time and space. At Christmas, we celebrate God in embodied human flesh. So, whatever our embodied human experience, Advent is a season to remember that God is coming, that God is near, and that God is with us.

But what might this look like, practically, to “prepare him room” (in the vocabulary of “Joy to the World”) and make holiday experiences more worshipful? Here are a few ideas for how we can generate a deeper worship of Jesus through holiday experiences:

• Every viewing of Christmas lights is an opportunity to recognize Jesus as the light of the world. We no longer need to walk in darkness; we have the light of life (John 8:12).
• As we give gifts, may we remember the generous love of God, who gave us his Son (John 3:16).
• When we receive gifts, may we likewise recall that our new life in God is to be received — not earned. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:7–9).
• As we fellowship or feast with others in our church or community, may we also realize that God himself dwelt among us (John 1:14).
• Every Christmas song — even your least favorite holiday songs — can serve to remind us of the eruption of song surrounding Jesus’s glorious birth, where a multitude of heavenly hosts proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:13). The glorious arrival of Christ the King deserves to be accompanied by our loudest and best music.
• Bring Christ-centered Christmas carols into your personal life. Sing them at home, even when you’re alone. And don’t just sing the lyrics, consider praying them too.
• Even our longing and waiting can become worshipful. Our longing for Christmas day to arrive pales in comparison to the generations who waited for the coming Messiah. Advent calendars and paper chains can offer a renewed perspective on waiting. The certainty of Christ’s birth brings resolution and satisfaction after a season of anticipation.

And the list of holiday experiences could go on and on. These are just a few examples. In each and every Christmas experience, look for opportunities to slow down; to listen for God’s voice; to make space for contemplation, reflection, or wonder; and to offer up words and affections of adoration and praise to the God who does not forget his people and meets us wherever we may be.

However you choose to use your time this holiday season, make it worshipful. We celebrate Christmas once annually as a way to bring a heightened emphasis, if not also a fresh sense of awe, to the glory of God on display in the miracle of the birth of Christ. May we not let busyness of the holiday season rob us of the everyday opportunities all around us to worship Jesus.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.”

Psalm 100:4-5 ESV