As millions of people prepare for Christmas in December, stories of expectation will be told. Once again, the world is standing on tiptoe like a toddler wanting to watch grandma make gingerbread cookies. The world is anticipating another celebration of the birth of Jesus. Yet, because we are looking back at preparations for this celebration through 2,000 years of history, we cannot compare our twenty-first century preparations to that year long ago when Joseph and Mary waited for Jesus to be born.
When Mary and Joseph welcomed their baby’s cry, they did not have the stories of Jesus’ ministry, the collection of his teachings, the eye-witness accounts of his crucifixion and resurrection, nor two-thousand years of evidence showing how Jesus’ life and teachings have spiritually transformed humanity. All they had were some angelic revelations that this infant would bring God’s gift of salvation. The angel instructed Joseph, “…you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save people from their sin” (Matthew 1:5). The arrival of this child of wonder, child of light, child of royal beauty bright pointed toward a new way of life for all people everywhere. We call this new way of life ‘resurrection living.’
In 2024, we prepare for another celebration of Christmas through God’s gift of salvation in Jesus. Throughout Advent, we begin a new spiritual year by embracing and expressing resurrection living. We are offering hope to other people because we experience God’s gift of hope through resurrection living. We are investing in peace because we know God’s peace that comes through resurrection living. We are expressing joy to the world not only because the Lord is come, but also because we are being transformed through God’s joy of resurrection living. And we are sharing love through our ministries in daily life as the scattered Church because we are being remade by God’s love.
This Advent, we will express our worship to The Living God through the theme, ‘The Advent of God’s Gift: Resurrection Living.’ This devotional booklet is to help you reflect on the meaning of this season.
- On December 1, we consider living on this bright side of Advent interpreting destruction through God’s
- gift of hope.
- On December 8, during ‘Hanging of the Green’ we interpret conflict through God’s gift of peace.
- On December 15, we focus on God’s gift of joy through music by our Chancel Choir.
- On December 22, we renew our commitments to embody the Advent of God’s gift of love.
- On Christmas Eve, we celebrate God’s Gift of Resurrection Living from a manger to an empty tomb.
Beloved, let us remember that Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” This is so because we allow the Light of God’s Gift, revealed in Jesus, to shine in us and through us. On Christmas Eve, we lift candles to announce more than the birth of Jesus. We announce our commitment to resurrection living!
