The last
Sunday of November is officially the First Sunday of Advent which for many
helps kick-off the Christmas Season of Celebration!
It's been my
observation that other than some decorations, many churches don't incorporate
Christmas, Christmas focused messages or Advent anymore into their Christmas
Celebration services leading up to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
This is disappointing
to say the least because Christmas and Easter (Resurrection Sunday) are two of
the best times of year to share the love and light of our Savior Jesus through
proclaiming all He did!
Unfortunately
many churches today miss the opportunity to share meaningful Christ focused messages during
these times either in their quest to be "relevant" (which anything
more "traditional" is seemingly thrown out) or it doesn't seem to fit into “their
plan” just to name a few "reasons".
Either way
it's a missed opportunity to share Christ through two amazing views: #1 through
His birth and #2 through is death and resurrection!
The same may
be said for how we "observe" communion today in many churches as we
barely explain it - if at all - the elders don't serve it, and people partake
of it without any context to the significance of it. (That’s a good topic for
future blog post)
Let me share from my heart to yours that I believe Advent can help provide a
meaningful context to how we celebrate Christmas! Clearly, Advent observance isn't about some "meaningless ritual" rather it's about the remembrance of His birth - His miraculous
entry into the world as a lowly babe!
Do you know
that Advent means "Coming" or "Arrival"? So, why wouldn't
we focus on His coming/arrival during Christmas where we celebrate His
Birthday?!
I share all
of this because I wholeheartedly believe that Advent can be a fantastic way for
us to: #1 remember the significance of Christmas and #2 help focus our hearts,
worship, celebration on the birth of Christ - the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas
in the first place!
With this in
mind, if you happen to be someone who enjoys incorporating Advent into your
Christmas Celebration or maybe you never have, I want to share the following
link to the "Celebrating Advent Guide" I put together to share
with you!
This simple
guide will help provide the basics to help you Celebrate Advent as a church, as
an individual or if you have a family - celebrate it as a family!
If your
church doesn't incorporate anything directly related to the message of CHRISTmas let me encourage you to consider incorporating Advent into your
own home as you count down the days to CHRISTmas!
Even if you
don't incorporate Advent into your Christmas Celebration this year - may this
simple guide encourage you by pointing you all the more to Christ and
help you prepare your heart to celebrate Him - His Coming (Advent) Birthday
that we celebrate on December 25th!
No matter
what, may you help fight to Keep Christ in your CHRISTmas celebration!
Have a
wonderful Christmas! Feel free to share this post and guide with others!
Lastly, If
you decide to use this guide, I would love to hear from you (leave a comment here
or e-Mail me directly) and would love to know how it helped walk you through
Advent - pointing you to Christ!
Because He is
the reason for the season,
rlk
P.S. This
guide is meant to be a simple tool/guide - a starting point - to guide you in your
observance. As you'll see, there are suggested Scriptures and Prayers you can use or you can
obviously do your own prayers. Again, this is just a tool to help guide you
through your observance.
You can use this word-for-word each year or again,
create your own by adding scriptures from your own studies and of course your
own prayers focused on the theme on each week of advent. No matter what, have
fun, make it personal as you approach Him with a humble and thankful heart!
