Advent Calendar
It’s old news to some of you, but it’s time for our Advent Calendar. Some of you are saying: What a great idea! Others: What the heck is Advent?I really don’t know when in church history it all started, but Advent is made up of the four Sundays before Christmas (this year: 27 November, 4, 11, 18 December). In many churches there is even an Advent Liturgy to prepare believers for the coming (the FIRST advent) of the Christ. With each new Sunday, people light a candle, till all four are lit the last Sunday.
ANYWAY, about 6 years ago, I got to thinking, “How can we connect with some of our neighbors who think we’re a sect even though we’ve been here 15 years and we rarely sacrifice chickens?” The Advent calendar on the front of our “house” was the answer. In late November, I put up numbers 1-24 on the outside wall. Then, on December 1, it’s up the ladder in the morning darkness to hang the first wood re-liefs (60x60 cm kind-of-3D panels that we made ourselves). They tell in chronological order the birth of Christ. Plus there’s a web site that French-speakers can go to and read the real story (and read ahead, if they want. You can see it by clicking on this post's title...).We’ll have a small open house on December 19 for folks from the neighborhood. And then, before you know it, Christmas is over.
posted by Brady @ 3:15 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
My neighbor is the minister of the Presbyterian church around the corner from College. He found out that I preach occasionally around this time of year and he asked me what we were doing for Advent. I said, and let me see if I can remember this correctly...I think it was..."Huh?"
While our mission is to seek and save the lost, it will be best accomplished through unity with all believers. I.e. I need to know more about things like this. Thanks for sharing.
I pray that more of us can reach out to our neighbors in this kind of way. God blessed you with a great heart for ministry.
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