Advent is something that many Christians celebrate this time of the year, in the days leading up to Christmas. Han and I are celebrating it for the third year in a row now and it is an exciting thing to do.
Advent simply means coming. Before the birth of Christ people were waiting expectantly for the coming of the Messiah. Similarly today we are waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ to go home to be with our Father God in Heaven for eternity. Celebrating Advent is a joy because it reminds us of the gospel of Jesus Christ in that he came to this earth, humbling himself to the point of death on the cross (Philippians 2), rose from the grave, ascended to Heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus will come back one day and we look forward to that with anticipation.
Celebrating Advent is a great way to have a family devotion or time of family worship. It is something where all members of the family can be involved from reading the Scripture for that day, singing Christmas carols, or getting something out of the Advent calendar.
There are many places you can find a schedule of Scriptures that correspond with the days leading up to Christmas and you can adapt the amount of Scripture you wish to read. For example if you have young children with short attention spans you may only want to read 1-2 verses or passages to keep it shorter.
