This morning our church family began observing the season of Advent and this evening my family did as well. This was not a customary part of my evangelical protestant upbringing, but its been truly refreshing (so far) and is causing me to be more anticipatory about Christmas than perhaps any other time in my adult life. So what is Advent? Here’s a nice explanation from the guys over at sojournmusic.com,
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas in the Christian Church Year calendar. The word advent means “coming,” and in this sense refers to Christ’s coming to earth. We look back to his first coming, as a baby in a manger, and look forward to His return on clouds of glory to reign as King.
Advent is both a time of repentance and longing, and a time of hope and joy:
The first, because Christ came to a broken world in need of a savior, to redeem and atone by suffering and dying for our sins. This is a time to be acutely aware of the depth of our sin and need for a savior. It’s a time to be aware of the presence of oppression and suffering in the world as well, to cry out “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
The second, because His coming is certain and victory is assured. As David declared in Psalm 98, paraphrased by Isaac Watts in “Joy to the World,” (which Watts never intended to be thought of as a Christmas carol, and which we should not reserve for only Christmas Day) “He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.”
(read here for another helpful post by these guys on why ALL Christians should celebrate Advent)
There are lots of ways your family can observe Advent and prepare for Christmas. Family devotions, a Jesse Tree and an Advent wreath are some of the most popular however. Check out the following links for more info on all the above:
http://www.eriercd.org/jessetree.htm
http://simplemom.net/jesse-tree/
http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=1628
http://www.crivoice.org/cyadvent.html
http://www.doorposts.net/details.aspx?id=48
http://www.ctkraleigh.org/mediafiles/advent-devotional.pdf
