Advent 2020: Rediscover Christmas
Rediscover God’s Gifts for You
Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love Embodied In Jesus
Sermons In This Series
More About This Series
Wow, what a year! Has there ever been a year filled with more uncertainty in our lifetimes? You know what’s on the list. We’ve all been living it for almost a full year: global pandemic, economic recession, mass unemployment, political division, cultural upheaval, racial reckoning, record wildfires, complete with fire tornados, extra-powerful hurricanes, and floods. Did I miss anything?
If it’s not the new word of the year officially, it should be—doomscrolling. It’s perfectly fitting that this new word was added to our lexicon this year. You know, it’s that scroll through your news feed on social media on your phone, just thumbing through the headlines. We’ve probably all done it. Hopefully, we’ve all caught ourselves and learned to limit the doomscrolling before bed. It’s enough to sink anyone into depression.
I’m not trying to bring us down here. Quite the opposite. But this is the reality we’ve all been living with for quite some time. It’s been a tough year. If there’s ever a year we need Christmas, this is it. If there’s ever a year we need the hope of Christmas, this is it. If there’s ever a year we need Christ, my friends, this is that year.
It’s a good thing we’ve made it here—to Advent, nearly to Christmas!
The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and the season is marked by expectation, waiting, anticipation, and longing. Advent is not just an extension of Christmas—it is a season that links the past, present, and future. Advent offers us the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, to celebrate His birth, and to be alert for His second coming. Advent looks back in celebration at the hope fulfilled in Jesus’s coming, while at the same time looking forward in hopeful and eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when He returns for His people.
During Advent we wait for both—it’s an active, assured, and hopeful waiting. Each week, we’re focusing on a different attribute of God represented in the coming of Jesus: hope, peace, joy, and love. Through these traits, we are learning how we can rediscover Christmas, despite the challenges, hardships, pains, and difficulties we might be experiencing.