Advent-ure

Advent may not be something new to you, but for a bunch of different reasons, it is new to me. I wasn't raised in church and then as an adult the churches that I attended didn't celebrate Advent. I heard the word here and there, but for the most part I really didn't know much about it until just recently. Now that I know more I have to say I think Advent is really cool.

I don't want to spoil the surprise for you if you aren't familiar with it, but I want to share with you a couple of the Advent adventures that I'm having this year. First of all my wife and I decided to participate in Advent by inviting our neighbors to our house for weekly celebrations. We kicked things off last night and will continue on Sunday evenings until Christmas. Some of my adult neighbors participated in Advent as children so they are more familiar with it than I am. We lit the first candle and read some Scripture and prayed together and talked about the meaning of Advent and all of the symbolism invovled. Along with the adults we had eight kids (ages 10 and under) so we had some great discussion of what everything means and why we do this and why we do that. One little guy doesn't really know the difference between Jesus Christ and Santa Claus so we had a good time of sorting through the mess of what Christmas has become. My prayer is that each of us in my neighborhood would really know the difference by the time Christmas comes this year.

Secondly, a friend of mine in Miami introduced me to a concept called the Advent Conspiracy. Have you ever seen a video that makes you want to stand up and clap, or to shout out loud? That's what I felt like when I saw the video that promotes what Advent Conspiracy is all about. If you have a few minutes of down time over these next few days, please visit www.AdventConspiracy.org and check out this idea. Watch the video, it is awesome! If nothing else read this slogan and really pray about what it means to you.

Christmas can [still] change the world. This year, Give Presence.

May you be richly blessed by the Presence of the King as you give your presence to others.
Blessings,
Shiloh