This Sunday is the start of a new Church year! That’s right, in this case, the Church is a little ahead of the World, believe it or not. For the next several weekends we’ll be going back and looking forward at the same time. Back to the days of darkness when the World was surprised by the birth of its Savior, and forward because the Church awaits the return of its Savior.
This season of waiting and expectation is called Advent, from the Latin verb advenio, which connotes several possible meanings: to come to or arrive somewhere; to develop or arise; to appear or ripen; even to invade, or an incursion. All of these shades of meaning apply to this season, because Christ the Lord did indeed invade when the time was ripe, and his coming was something that developed in what scripture calls “the fullness of time.”
To mark the days until Christmas, we’ve ordered Advent calendars. We’ll be handing them out during the children’s sermon at both services, and any extras will be made available at the church office later in the week. If you don’t have a family tradition for advent, or are looking for a simple, effective way to lead devotions, come get you an Advent Calendar!