Today marks the beginning of a new time in the church called advent. But what in the world do all of these names mean anyway? It can be a little overwhelming, especially if you’ve never really been involved in the church. And to be 100% honest, I would venture to guess that many of you who do attend church on a regular basis might have a couple of questions.
Advent is that time leading up to Christmas. It’s not Christmas. It’s advent. It starts the Sunday after Thanksgiving and lasts until Christmas Eve. Things in the church change a little bit when advent starts. If you’re in a church with colorful fabric coverings on an altar, then these will likely change to blue. You’ll typically see an advent wreath pop up somewhere in the church. And it’s very likely that you’ll have a manger scene somewhere in your worship facility.
Advent is a time of waiting. It’s a time for followers of Jesus to wait for the coming of Christmas. Just like the people of Israel throughout the Old Testament had to wait for the one they called Messiah, so also we must wait.
All too often though we don’t give advent much thought. We try to rush past advent because Christmas is the exciting time. We want to get past all of those candles and jump right into the presents. Each of the candles on the advent wreath are reminders of gifts already given. The candles of hope, love, peace, and joy all point us forward to the day when we’ll see it exactly as it’s supposed to be seen.
So this advent don’t rush. Take your time. Enjoy each day. Live in each moment. Slow down. Breathe. Feel the calm of waiting. For some of us type-A people waiting is pretty rough stuff. Before advent even arrived I was off and planning Easter stuff. The challenge is real but the struggle is worth it. Advent is such a rich time in the life of the church.
This advent season we’re trying to bring back the richness of these days of waiting and preparation. The church I serve, Living Word, is having a little fun this advent by taking pictures of various things throughout the season. Things that remind us of what advent really means. Feel free to head on over to join us for the fun. Or make up your own way to celebrate the season. But whatever you do, slow down through this time and just enjoy every moment because you’ll never get them back.
Be with the ones you love. Love the ones you’re with. Serve the ones you can. Pray for those you can’t serve. But in all things know that this advent the King is coming.
Mondays are great days to look back and to look ahead. When we look back, we reflect on where we’ve been. We see the good and the bad. We, at times, relive the mistakes we’ve made. We feel regret over our failures. Shame often takes over and brings us to our knees in what we believe to be a pile of nothingness. But other days when we look back we can smile because we know that through all of it, God was always by our side. 
For many of you this is already a reality. More people have cast early votes this year than in many of the recent years on record. We’re seeing larger than average turnout for this year’s presidential election. Whether or not you’ve cast your vote there’s still some work to do. 
