Advent 2010

Season of Advent – the four Sundays before Christmas, starts on 28 November.

The word “Advent” essentially means “coming” and “expecting”. It is a time to be filled with joy, because God became a man and was born as a baby on that first Christmas, to become our Redeemer and King!
During this season we also remember that Jesus wants to come to us, here and now through his Spirit’s work in us, and through us come to a lost world in dire need of him.
Finally we also remember during this season that Jesus Christ promised to physically come to us again, to create a new heaven and earth in which we will live for all eternity!

God sent his Son
During the next four weeks, until Christmas day, we will remember that Christ took on our weak, human nature and became one of us.
As the Apostle Paul puts it in 2 Cor 5: 21: God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.

This is what Christ did for us during that first Christmas day. In taking on ”weak human flesh”, he associated himself with our dilemma which is the result of our mistakes, disobedience and sin. He came to live the life that God requires and we cannot accomplish, and lived it perfectly, holy and without sin, in our place! The Son of God became our brother and will never leave nor forsake us.

During this season of Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, we want to celebrate that when God gave the gift of salvation, he did not send new laws and rules through which to figure our how we can be saved. No, he sent his Son to save us.
The Advent message always remains that (John 3:16) God so much loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Lets trust in the Son. Lets rejoice because he did everything we could not do, to save us! Lets pray that he will come again soon to dry all our tears.

The Advent Wreath
The symbolism of the Advent Wreath is beautiful. On Sunday our wreath will be displayed.
The wreath is made of various evergreens, signifying continuous life. It signifies victory over persecution and suffering. The prickly leaves remind us of the crown of thorns. Any pine cones or other seeds symbolize life and resurrection.
The circle of the wreath, that has no beginning or end, symbolizes the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life found in Christ who entered our world a true man and who was victorious over sin and death through his own passion, death, and resurrection.

The four candles on the wreath represent the four weeks of Advent. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of his second coming to judge the living and the dead.
The lighting of candles signifies Christ, the Light of the world.

In family practice, the Advent candles on the wreath is usually lit at home on Sundays at lunch or dinner time, after the blessing of the food.