Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Happy New Year!

For many Christians around the world, last Sunday marked the beginning of the New Year. The season of Advent (the beginning of the church year) began on December second and will end on Christmas day. Advent is a season of remembering and reenacting the anticipation of the Christ’s coming. In addition to remembering the Hebrew anticipation for the Messiah’s arrival, Advent also serves as a reminder that we as Christians are waiting for Christ’s second coming.

It’s easy to get caught up in the secular properties of Christmas, distracted by the bright flashing lights and flashy wrapping paper and forget about the Christ story. Though Advent is not traditionally observed within our heritage, it has been a part of the Christian life for at least 1400 years, and I believe that there is value in observing, or at least thinking about the Christmas season within the context of our Christian faith, Advent helps me do that.

This year, let’s remember the Christmas story, but let’s also remember that Christ is coming again at some time in the future, which is yet another reason to have great joy during the Christmas season.

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