The word "advent" means arrival.
In the traditional Church calendar, "Advent" is a time for celebrating the coming of Jesus: both remembering his birth and anticipating his future arrival, the restoration of all things.
From the beginning, this has been a story of unexpected contrast. Supreme Peace born under the rule of Roman brutality. Ultimate Love wrapped up in the crude, human cage of an infant’s ribs. Joy enough to carry all of life, small enough to be carried in the crook of an arm. Hope born into a struggling, battling world—into a barn. For all of us.
Advent is an invitation into a great adventure. It’s a journey toward the beginning of the end. God’s plan for salvation birthed in front of us. Yet, as with all great journeys, it involves a good bit of preparation. And despite our most diligent efforts, will always be laced with mystery. Because how can you truly prepare to go somewhere you’ve never been? How can you wrap your head around what you don’t understand? Perhaps the only solution then is to give our minds a rest, and embrace the mystery before us. Because Advent is a season that is lived in your heart. It’s a time of preparation where we let our desires to comprehend mingle with the mystery of God becoming a human. And together, with our brothers and sisters around the world, we stop and reflect. Pausing to let go of ourselves, we enter into the mystery and our need for God’s presence, which is always, mysteriously, available to us.
Every year we create a number of free resources & activities to help us more fully engage this advent season. We hope they help draw you into a deeper experience of the grace & peace that comes from knowing the incarnation - Jesus Christ - God with us.
