Advent
What is Advent?
The Advent season is a time for setting our gaze afresh on Jesus Christ, celebrating the hope, peace, joy, and love that he brings with his coming. Beginning four Sundays prior to Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, Advent helps us prepare for the coming, or “advent” of the Christ child at Christmas.
For hundreds of years, Christians have used the Advent wreath as a visual example of a symbol that is borrowed from the emphasis throughout Scripture of Jesus Christ being the Light of the World (Matt. 4:16; John 1:4-9, 8:12). Each week, a new candle is lit, building up anticipation for Christmas Eve.
The last candle, called the Christ Candle, is lit on Christmas Eve to represent Jesus’ first Advent. Through this theme of increasing light breaking into the darkness, we see a visual picture of the gospel. We are reminded about the meaning of Christ’s birth and become more excited about his coming in the past, in the future, and in the present through each of our lives.
In an increasingly busy and frenzied world, Advent is an opportunity for believers to slow down and remember God’s promise to send a Savior who would overcome sin and death forever; a promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As we set our gaze upon him, Christ becomes the substance of our hope, the source of our peace, the object of our joy, and enfolds us in the gift of his love.
Digital Advent Journal: Integrating Advent
Our hope is that this digital journal does not simply inspire you to dive into this Advent season nor just provide content that furthers your revelation. Our greatest desire is to give you practical ways of integrating the themes of Advent into your personal discipleship and your community this season. We know every disciple of Jesus is at different levels of maturity and stages of development. What integration looks like for one may be completely different from another person. Because of this, we want to provide a framework for integrating this journal’s content no matter where you are on that journey! Pastor Jacob has introduced our church to language that will be helpful in giving us steps for integration. We want to give you a definition of this framework so you know how to engage as you see this language throughout the journal.
Basic
This is a great place to start if the content is completely new or something you have never incorporated into your discipleship journey before this journal. This is the first step!
Baseline
This is for those who have begun the journey of integrating and want to grow and stretch themselves. This is a great way to try something new and incorporate new disciplines into your journey.
Build
This is for those who have been working on the practical integration for a while and desire further growth. Not everyone will land on this step this Advent season, and that is completely okay!
Celebrate Advent Together
Join us at one of our Victory Life locations and celebrate the Advent season with a church family!