Our church celebrates advent for the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas and also on Christmas Eve at our candle light service.
It is so good to keep advent in mind as we approach Christmas. It is our way to prepare our hearts to worship our Savior who's birth we celebrate and to keep our focus on what's important.
Advent simply means, , coming, as in Christ who came into the world as a baby to die for you and me and who is coming again to take us to Heaven.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
Generally, to celebrate advent, we use a wreath and 5 candles of different colours. Each week we read the advent reading and light a candle.
The wreath is a circle, with no beginning and no end, symbolizing God's love for us.
The first candle we lit yesterday was the purple candle, which is the Candle of Hope.
And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:12-13).
We can have hope because God is faithful and will keep the promises He made to us. Our hope comes from God.
When I was a child we always had an advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas. I didn't think much of it then what it all meant. But as our children use the same advent calendar I used as a child, I hope that Larry and I can show them daily how much God loves them. Enough to send His son to earth to die on a cross for their sins. This can be a daily act of worship to God.
Here is our advent calendar all ready for tomorrow. I bought halloween candy on sale to fill it.
God bless!
