What is Advent?
Advent is the season of preparation when Christians around the world prepare themselves for Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus which means “coming”, and when we observe the traditions of advent we are preparing for the coming of Christ. We do this by remembering the birth of the baby Jesus, and by celebrating his birth as a promise that God will once again send his son to bring eternal light to our dark and hurting world.
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, the Sunday closest to November 30, and lasts through Christmas Eve (December 24). This year we will be celebrating advent from Sunday December 1st through Christmas eve. This is an ancient Christian tradition that is as old as the celebration of Christmas itself. Throughout the world Christians celebrate advent in different ways, some people light candles, others use dedicated calendars, and yet still others eat special candies. Regardless of the specific practices though all of them have in common, prayer, scripture reading and the spirit of Joyful anticipation.
How do we celebrate?
Here at ORBC we will be celebrating advent in several ways throughout the month of December. The most obvious by lighting candles on an advent wreath at the front of the church during our worship services. Each week a family from the church will be invited to read this weeks scripture, light a candle, and pray for the worship service. Every week we will light one additional candle until on Christmas eve all 5 candles will be lit. This is meant to paint a dramatic picture of light growing in intensity as we approach the day on which we remember God coming to dwell with his people as Emanuel. While we will be celebrating advent in the weekly worship service, we encourage each of our families to celebrate advent at home. You can do this by gathering with your family and your friends to light the candles of your own advent wreath, or by reading these designated Christmas passages in your own devotional time. In either case we want to encourage you to step outside of the stress of the holiday season and into the season of Light.