How Do We Adore Him?
Advent is a season of counter-formation. It’s a time set apart to form our hearts to worship and praise our Savior. To adore him, as the Christmas carol calls us to do. Come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.
We don’t use the word adore very often in everyday conversation, and maybe that’s good if the word retains special meaning for worshiping God. We are devoted to, even passionate about what we adore. We adore what we worship at the core of our being and at the center of our lives. Who could be more worthy of our adoration than Jesus?
As a season of grace amid the hurried activities of December, Advent provides sacred time and space to prepare our hearts for Jesus’ coming in love for the life of the world. It’s a season of waiting with patience and hope to celebrate the birth of the Word made flesh and continue to wait for the re-birth of all creation when he returns.
Advent reminds us that it matters how we worship Jesus while we wait for his coming. Followers of Jesus have new life and a living hope in the Savior born a baby in Bethlehem. Yet sin and death still corrupt the world, and we live as exiles here. Advent carries a theme of lament and sorrow for our broken world in need of healing. We are waiting for our true home with him, for Jesus to come again to renew all things. When you come to adore Jesus in the manger this Christmas, ask him to form your heart to worship and desire him in all of life’s waiting seasons.
Adore is the first category in our ABIDE acronym for spiritual practices at Trinity (Bless, Invite, Devote, Examine). We include worship, prayers of praise, and Sabbath as ways we are formed to adore Jesus. Worship calls us to orient our lives around him rather than ourselves every day, not just on Sunday. With prayers of praise, we lift our hearts to the Lord with words of gratitude and adoration. Practicing Sabbath rest deepens our devotion to the one who gives and sustains our life.
What would it look like for you to adore Jesus in this Advent? We’ve included some suggestions below for reflection. Spend time with a few of these in the coming week as you practice adoring Jesus in this season of hopeful waiting for his coming and his coming again.
Reflection Questions
Be intentional about getting closer to Jesus even in this busy time of year. Set aside some time to sit with him in prayer, telling him things you love and appreciate about him. Then, when you go back to your activities, remember him with brief prayers of praise and thanksgiving throughout the day.
Read the stories of Jesus’ birth and find the people in them you most identify with. Reflect on how they worshiped him. Now put yourself in the scene. Close your eyes and imagine gazing on the baby Jesus in the manger. What are your impressions when you see him there as Word made flesh, God-with-us, long-awaited Savior? Journal about any new insights you have and ask Jesus to form your heart for deeper worship of him. [Read Luke 1:26 - 2:39; Matthew 2:1-12]
Think of the name of someone you dearly love. Reflect on the images that come to your mind when you hear their name. Knowing someone’s name helps you know that person. Read Isaiah 9:1-7; Rev. 5:9-13, and 19:6. Prayerfully reflect on one of the names for Jesus in these passages, even saying the name aloud several times. What images come to your mind when you meditate on that name? Worship Jesus for what this name reveals about who he truly is.
Find the lyrics and listen to the Advent song, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Journal about the words and phrases that stand out to you. Reflect on the idea of waiting in exile in the world as a reality of our Christian faith. Prayerfully consider the truth that as followers of Jesus we wait with hope for his coming. Ask Jesus to help you change habits that distract you from worshiping him and form your heart to worship and adore him more deeply in the waiting. [Read 1 Peter 1:3-7]
