Journey to The Journey

This week we started a 4 week Advent series where we are focusing on the incarnation of Christ. What is so significant about the incarnation that we would take an entire month to focus on it? Why are so many other churches doing the same? I've heard this word Advent before, but I don't really understand what all the fuss is about! If those questions and thoughts have run through your mind, you aren't alone. For many people, when they think about Christmas, there is a long list of things that come to mind well before they ever even begin to think about the incarnation. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that for the majority of people who will celebrate Christmas in this country and around the world this year, Jesus doesn't even factor into the equation. Yikes! How did we get here???

The word “advent” comes from the Latin advenire, ad (“to”) - venire (“come”), or adventus (“arrival”). It is the celebration of the incarnation of Jesus at his birth (i.e. Christmas). Historically, it has been a traditional part of worship leading up to Christmas among Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Methodists (among others), but is also regularly observed among many within evangelicalism.