Advent is a 4-week season that begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and continues through Christmas Day. “Advent” comes from a Latin word meaning “to come.” These four weeks provide an opportunity for us to focus on how we are to live between the two advents of Jesus Christ — his first coming two thousand years ago and his second coming in the future.
As God commanded his children Israel to set aside holidays and celebrations to remember his work in the past and to anticipate his promises for the future, we invite you to celebrate Advent at home as well as with the Hope family in one or more of the following ways.
- Pick up an Advent Jesse Tree Devotional Book at Hope’s Resource Center in order to read a daily meditation along with various Bible passages during each day in December.
- Acquire an Advent calendar and/or wreath for you home. Advent calendars are made up of 24 windows containing Scriptures, stories, poems or gifts to count down the days until Christmas. As each window is opened and the final day draws closer, expectation increases. Advent wreaths are another popular tradition is marking the progression of the season through the lighting of five candles that are set in the wreath. This symbol is borrowed from the emphasis throughout Scripture of Jesus Christ being the Light of the World (Matt. 4:16; John 1:4-9, 8:12). Each week a new candle is lit our homes in anticipation of Christmas Eve. The last candle, called the Christ Candle, is lit on Christmas Eve to represent Jesus’ first advent. Through this theme of ever-increasing light penetrating the darkness, we see a picture of Christ’s coming into our darkened world as well as our partnership with him as “the light of the world.”
- Join us on Sunday mornings (10:30 am) as we come together weekly to realign our lives with Christ through lighting Advent candles, sharing a devotional reading with our children; singing worshipful Christmas songs; hearing a Christ-exalting Advent message; and participating in communion.
- Join us on Christmas Eve (6 – 7 pm) for a sacred time of worship, singing, candles, and an opportunity to re-center your life on what really matters – your relationship with God, your family, and friends.
May God bless you and may there be much joy to the world throughout this sacred season of Advent!