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Preparing for Advent - This Year's Theme

Advent – When God Came To Earth

The page on the calendar turns to December, and Christmas is soon to come.  Christmas is almost here!  
The kids wait in anticipation counting down the days until the gifts are opened.  For many Moms and Dads its a busy time:  there are Christmas programs and parties; carol sings and ringing the bells; shopping for presents, getting the tree, and the decorations to put up; mail the Christmas cards, bake the cookies and candies and...sigh, I’m tired already!  
What’s amazing in all of this is that we find that the reason we are celebrating Christmas can easily get lost in milieu of endless motion of activities. 

Why do we celebrate Christmas?  We celebrate Christmas because God Came to Earth.

The gospel of John introduces this to us:  John 1:14
14  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Good News is that Jesus – God, the Son – Came to Earth; and that is the reason why we celebrate Christmas.  
Therefore, how can we take in the mystery of all that God did in Jesus’ birth?  

We can join thousands upon thousands of Christians around the world and celebrate Christmas as the Advent Season. 

Advent comes from the Latin word, “Adventus” and it means “arriving, coming”.  Advent has been celebrated as part of the church’s calendar for over a thousand years.  
Advent takes in the four Sundays preceding Christmas.  This year it begins on Sunday, Nov. 30th and ends on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th.

Why Celebrate Advent? 

I do not celebrate Advent because I have nothing else to do around the Christmas season.  I celebrate Advent because it slows the season down and allows us to become immersed in the story of the incarnation.  
Christmas is a story that reminds me over and over again that God saw in us – his people – the beauty and wonder of His “image” - so much so that he entered the world through the Incarnation – Jesus, the Word, became flesh to save us from our sins.

I grew to love the season of Advent – slowly.  I did not start my Christian walk with it, but several years into my walk with Christ I embraced it.  Why?  Because I was leading a church and busy “with Christmas”.  What I did not see was the beauty of Christ in the Incarnation – the reason why we celebrate Christmas.  I put all of my attention on getting to the one day, Christmas, and missed the days of celebration that led up to it.  I came to the end of each Christmas with a sigh of relief, not a heart filled with renewed faith, joy and worshiping love.

It was Helmut Thielicke who said, “When I am asked why, as a Christian, I celebrate Christmas, my first reply is that I do so because something has happened to me, and therefore — but only as I am receptive and give myself to it — something can [now] happen in me.”

I wanted something to happen “in” me.  I embraced the Advent season.  Every year I grew to anticipate and love the Advent season like no other time of the year.  Now, I savor Advent like someone does a great meal…slowly, intentionally, deliberately.

Over the last 20 years I’ve blogged my way through the Advent Season and many have joined me.  A year ago I finished an Advent devotional book and published it on Amazon as a Kindle book (at a low cost of $1.99 a book).  Here’s the link for those of you reading this in my blog, but if you’re reading this in print just go on to Amazon and enter in the title of the book.  http://www.amazon.com/Advent-Sojourn-Elliott-Pollasch-ebook/dp/B00FN1130C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415292202&sr=8-1&keywords=an+advent+sojourn.     If you have purchased the book last year, thank you; but consider buying another book this year and give it as a gift to someone in your family, or a friend.

This Advent Season I’m going to do something I’ve not done before.  I’m going to blog through Advent again, but design the devotionals towards children.  As a Grandfather I have a desire for my grandchildren – and kids in general - to understand what this season of Advent is all about.

Each day of Advent – beginning Sunday, Nov. 30th – I’m going to post simple readings that parents can share with their kids; and with those readings, there will be suggestions for projects, crafts, or other things that I hope will be fun for kids, and help to make the Christmas story relevant to kids.  My target age is 4-10, so as parents you might need to adjust the things to do according to your children’s age.  What I would love is your comments, suggestions, and even your own ideas on how you made this relevant to your own kids.

With that as my goal, I have another suggestion which is that you purchase “The Jesus Story Bible” which sells on Amazon for $10.50.  Here’s the link, or if you’re reading this in print, just go on to Amazon and enter in the title of the book.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310708257/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.  I’ll use this as the basis for many of the daily meditations during Advent.

Lastly, we’ll celebrate the Advent Season in our church – New Life Fellowship - http://www.nlfellowship.org/.  We’ll worship and learn through the Advent season.  Each Sunday we’ll let Christ’s Advent become front and center with music, readings, candles, and teaching. 

This year the theme for our Advent worship is the title of this blog: 
“When God Came to Earth”
Nov. 30th          -           God came to show fulfill his Promises
Dec. 7th            -           God came to show us He wants us to Know Him
Dec. 14th          -           God came to show us His Love (our Christmas Kids program is this Sunday)
Dec. 21st          -           God came to show us His salvation, joy, & life
Dec. 24th          -           Christmas Eve, “Oh Come Let Us Adore Him”.

The time for Advent approaches quickly.  I pray you can “enter in” with me and let us celebrate together all that God has done for us in the Advent of our Lord, Jesus Christ.


Peace

Comments

Joel Alberti said…
Thanks Elliott. What a great tradition. I will let my kids know about the special "children's addition."
November 18, 2014 at 2:54 PM
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