Anticipation: What is Advent

via TJC

With Thanksgiving now behind us we decided to embrace tradition over the next 4 weeks and celebrate the Advent season.  Christian’s celebrate advent in a lot of different ways and even the greater culture as a whole gets into the game this time of year.  To most people advent has simply become a countdown to Christmas.  We have all kinds of calendars to mark the 4 weeks leading up to the day Santa arrives. Last year a friend sent me a whiskey advent calendar so I could taste a different whiskey each day (which I thoroughly enjoyed).  

But what is Advent really supposed to be about?  The word itself simply means anticipation of the arrival of something you have been waiting for.  It makes me think of the old ketchup commercial with the song Anticipation playing in the background (just search “anticipation  song ketchup “)  Today a lot of us are anticipating the first 12 team college football playoffs.  But what does advent mean to us as Kingdom Men and what does the Bible say about it?  I’m a fan of the Bible Project and this is what they had to say about Advent in the scriptures.

“From the first story to the last, the Bible is full of narratives, poetry, prophecy, biographies, and personal letters that inform our understanding of Advent. When the Bible talks about humans waiting for the promised anointed King who would deliver them, it can help us connect with their anticipation (Amos 9:11-13). When we read about people choosing joy and hope in God’s promises despite their circumstances, the meaning of Advent can take on a deeper meaning (Isa. 9:6-7, 11:1-5; Luke 1:26-2:20). And when the New Testament talks about a second advent, the return of Jesus, we can join in that time of waiting, shared by Christians throughout history (Rev. 21:1-5).”

BibleProject.com (search “advent” for a 4 week video series you might watch with your family)

However you celebrate Advent in your church tradition (it varies a lot) or if it is a whole new idea for you, we hope you will embrace it as a way to let Jesus know you are anticipating his coming.  Much of that may be remembering his first coming as that baby in a manger.  More importantly as Kingdom Men though is our anticipation of His return.  Our hope and our efforts today, especially as leaders of our families should be an anticipation of hearing “well done” when He arrives. 

Over the next few weeks we will be taking a pretty unique approach to Advent.  Instead of the traditional cadences of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love we have chosen to look at the family involved in Jesus’ first coming.  The rest of this week we will look into Mary as the wife and mother. Then we will explore Joseph as the father and finally Jesus as the son and sibling in the family.  

Daily Battle Order:

Take time today to think about how you will share Advent with your family this year.  Will it include church services with different candles being lit each week?  Maybe you will watch the videos at the Bible Project.  We hope you will also read the upcoming battle orders and share them with your family.  

Merry Christmas - our anticipated King is coming!!!