2020 has been an overwhelming and exhausting year!  For many of us, the joy and arrival of the Christmas season can not come quick enough.  There is a Christmas tradition in the church that is called Advent.  Advent is a season of longing, remembering and anticipation.  Advent simply means coming.  For thousands of year’s God’s people were longing for the arrival of the messiah.  We know and celebrate that Jesus Christ was God’s fulfilled promise and savior!  We too have a longing and anticipation of the Messiah, not his first arrival, but for the time when He is coming back to make all the wrongs right!  1 Peter 1:10-12 sums up the season of advent well.

^“10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹ trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”

The first mention of Advent occurred in the 300’s A.D at a meeting of church leaders called the Council of Sargossa. It gradually developed into a season that stretched across the month of December and is often celebrated around the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.  For the weeks leading up to Christmas, we have created this guide to help you and your family rejoice and rest in the promises of Jesus!  This celebration is often accompanied weekly by the lighting of candles.  There are many different symbols for celebrating advent and no right or wrong way to do so. 

In this guide, we have created a weekly candle lighting template along with a daily individual experience to help you process through this Christmas season

May we with joyful hope and anticipation celebrate His first coming and look forward to His second!