The Advent Season
The Advent season is a prominent season that occurs every year throughout the time leading up to Christmas. Some Christians may be unfamiliar with this season because it is usually not celebrated within some Evangelical traditions. So what does Advent mean? Why is this season celebrated? Throughout this blog, I hope to answer these questions.
The word “Advent” is a Latin word “adventus.” This word in the English translation means “coming.” Throughout many generations, scholars have believed Advent is a time of preparation for new things such as baptism. This is also a time of preparation for the second coming of Christ and also remembering how he will come to us in our daily lives. During the season of preparation, scholars believe Christians would spend 40 days in prayer and fasting for the celebration so that God can be able to move within the time of advent.
In today’s society, we still celebrate Advent. Advent is celebrated within the four last Sundays leading up to the week of Christmas. During this time, the new Christian year is celebrated within 12 days. The celebration is called Christmastide. This season can last until the First Sunday of January. Advent is also celebrated to create a way for churches to understand what is called “The Last Days”.
When we consider the time of Christmas, we think about the consideration of holiday celebrations, shopping lights, and caroling. However, Advent is intended to be a time of fasting. People also correlate this season as lent. This is also a time for God’s people to reflect of the evil that has been shown within the society, which causes them to call out to God, even the more to make things right within our society.
During the midst of this season, it can surely be difficult to forget that Advent is more than just a season of pre-Christmas. So with this in mind, here are some helpful creative ways to incorporate advent within the Christmas season.
1. Attend the Advent Celebration Services
During this time, some churches, including Roman Catholic churches, have special opportunities for the public to attend an Advent service. During this service, they celebrate the coming of Christ with songs of praise as well as an optional meal that may occur. No matter how busy we are, we all should invest in attending at least one Advent service.
2. Celebrate with Neighbors
God desires us to fellowship with our neighbors. During the holiday season, many individuals are lonely with having no intentions of attending church or celebrating Christmas with others. As Christians, our job is to reach out to them and see if they would love to join any family events that you may encounter during this time.
3. Seek out daily devotions
Daily devotions are a great way to gather the family together as well as connecting them to Christ with the understanding of the second coming that will occur. This can also give you weekly activities to do during this time as a family.
4. Create your own wreath for Advent with candles
An Advent wreath is extremely helpful to symbolize the season. The wreath consists of four candleholders where one candle is placed as the important candle to symbolize for family members and friends to talk about the season of advent this can cause a teaching moment for people around the wreath to know about advent.
I hope this blog has helped you encounter much knowledge about advent and creative ways to celebrate the season. This season is not to be made difficult to understand. It’s made to assist individuals with the understanding of Advent and how you can apply these tools after the season is completed.
