BE PREPARED
You might hear that from a scout leader, a financial adviser, or a wild eyed fortune teller who ate bugs for lunch. There are many forms of preparation – we prepare for exams, emergencies, disasters, and trips. Christmas decorations on store shelves in October urge us to get ready. Advice columns and the news media tell us to prepare. But how are we called to prepare as followers of Christ?.
The word Advent means ”preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ”. Its origins are unknown but most Christians have celebrated the Advent season in various ways since the 4th century. Advent has a four week duration beginning on the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s day, November 30. This year, in 2024, will begin the new liturgical season on December 1. The Advent season leads us into a new church year with hope and patience in preparation for Christmas.
Celebrating Advent is important because it offers us a lens through which to view Christ’s coming into the world, not as a secular winter holiday where materialism rules the day. We can see it as a holy day where Jesus ushers the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. We have an opportunity to make room in our hearts and lives for the true gift of Christmas. How we prepare our hearts is part of the mystery of the season. We don’t know what we don’t know. We don’t always know how but we prepare as best we can. God is prepared, to come to us. God is with us.
How can we prepare for Advent and Christmas? There are many things we can do: worship, slow down, look for God, work for justice or find ways to give. But no matter what we have done or left undone, Christ is coming. Be prepared to be amazed.
As Christians, you are a part of what God is doing through The Lutheran Hour Ministries. Your gifts and prayers make a very real impact on this ministry each day. Remember the Lutheran Hour Ministries and look forward to seeing how the Lord will work through us.
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