ADVENT…

Editor’s Note: Due to technical difficulties we have not been posting over the past few weeks. We will post Monday through Friday during this season leading up to Christmas. If you are interested in still receiving these posts please keep watch for news concerning our new website.

Advent – what was once a familiar season for Christians is not even recognized by many today. What is advent? According to Merriam-Webster the first two definitions are:

1: the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting

2a : the coming of Christ at the Incarnation

For our purpose we want to spend some time recognizing these four Sundays before Christmas. 

Advent began on yesterday, December 3rd. Many churches throughout our land still pause and prepare for the significance of Christmas – not as a commercial holiday, or even as a time spent with family and friends; rather, as a time to consecrate one’s heart and life in special recognition of the significance of the Christ child coming into the world. Whether He came on December 25th or not is insignificant – the point is – HE CAME. And He came in the most insignificant ways. No triumphal entry for this KING, no royal celebration – a humble virgin maiden was HIs mother, protected by a godly man who chose to believe an angel that in fact this baby was the Son of God. 

This couple forced to go to travel miles and miles as her time to bring forth drew near, found no room for them in an inn, but were directed to an ox stable, where she gave birth. Animals greeted this King, until the shepherds in a nearby area were sent there by angels to give credence to His birth. 

No grand celebrations – no pomp and circumstance – It’s still that way today – Jesus is crowded out amidst the Christmas parties and celebrations; the search for ostentatious gifts, the "eat, drink and be merry" of the season. They didn’t know that day in Bethlehem what a world-changing event was occurring in that ox stable. We know now – yet what is our personal response as we remember HIs birth? 

Maria