How to Celebrate Advent
What this season means for us as the church, and ideas for how to practice advent on your own or with your family
We know you’ve all got Thanksgiving and turkey and adjusting of plans and holding this holiday loosely on the mind and heart right now. (We can relate.) Celebrating the holiday season feels so different this year. It feels necessary, important, and so needed, and at the same time, I know we’ve all had to face the possibility of loved ones missing from our tables. There’s a very real, collective loss and longing we’re experiencing.
For us, we’re excited to spend the actual holiday of Thanksgiving with some family (which we’ve only been able to do once in the last five years! Usually, Bryan and I would celebrate on our own in California, either or alone or with some friends who extended a kind invitation). Now that we’ve moved back to Colorado, we’re so grateful to be home and among family! However, we still haven’t been able to see family on my side yet, even though they’re only a few hours away. My mom still hasn’t gotten to see me pregnant in person yet. We’re hoping that will change soon, but like many of you, we’re waiting.
Still, this holiday season feels especially significant, and not just because we need a little extra holiday cheer. In just a few short days, one of our favorite seasons of the church calendar year begins: Advent.
What is Advent?
A SEASON OF WAITING
For centuries, Christians have marked the start of the church calendar year with Advent, the season preceding and leading up to Christmas. For four weeks, we lean into and experience the anticipation of Christ’s arrival, remembering the many years that Israel waited for the promised Messiah and the world waited for its Savior. It’s a way to prepare for the celebration of Christmas, of Immanuel, God with us. This is a season is filled with invitations from God for reflecting, pausing, noticing, longing, waiting, hoping. It’s the time when our hearts cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus,” again and again.
N.T. Wright has written about how we live between two advents: the initial arrival of Christ 2,000 years ago, and our anticipation of His return, when He will restore and renew all things. And what a year we’ve had, to remind us of what it means to wait upon God and to cling to hope! I had a former mentor tell me once that 90% of the Christian life is waiting. That’s never felt more true than in 2020.
WEEKLY THEMES
This year, Advent begins November 29th and ends on Christmas Eve. Each week of Advent has a traditional theme, designed to guide us through the waiting of Christ’s arrival:
Week One: Hope
Week Two: Peace
Week Three: Joy
Week Four: Love
There are many ways to mark and celebrate Advent each week. We’ll share a few ideas, as well as share how we’re practicing Advent this year. We’d love to invite you to join with us!
Advent Practices
MAKE AN ADVENT WREATH.
One of our favorite practices is to create an Advent wreath with Advent candles (you can find these easily online), and to light the candle for each week on Sunday evenings. In the darkest time of the year, lighting the Advent candle is a reminder that we’re waiting on the Light of the World to arrive. When we light the candle for the week, we also say a prayer around the week’s theme. If you have a copy of The Book of Common Prayer or another Advent resource, that’s a great place to start!
There are a number of creative ways to make an Advent wreath (just Google it for ideas!). We usually take some evergreen garland and make a circle, then place a candle holder four for candles (one for each week of Advent) inside the wreath. Traditionally, Advent candles are purple, with one pink one for the third week, but any candles you have will do! Then, place a candle in the center of the wreath, called the Christ candle, to be lit on Christmas morning.
We’ll be posting weekly Advent prayers here on the blog and on our social media accounts for you, if you’d like to follow along.
READ A DAILY ADVENT DEVOTIONAL OR PRAY THROUGH LECTIONARY PASSAGES.
Each day, spend some time in an Advent devotional, and incorporate scripture readings into your time. If you follow a lectionary, read the passages for the day. Then, spend a few moments in prayer, dialoguing with God about what His word or the devotional stirred within you.
We’ve got a few great recommendations for Advent devotionals, if you don’t already have one:
New Life Fellowship’s (New York City) Advent Devotional (This is a favorite we’ve used several years in a row.)
Long Nights: A Pocket Liturgy for Advent (New Life Downtown)
New Life Downtown’s Advent and Christmas Devotional (with a guest appearance from yours truly in December 4’s entry!)
Honest Advent by Scott Erickson (This is a new release this year, and I’m especially excited about it!)
MAKE AN ADVENT CALENDAR.
You can find Advent calendars everywhere this time of year (grocery stores, Target, etc), and most have some kind of space to fit a piece of candy to enjoy, or a small ornament to add to the Christmas tree each day. This is a great one to practice if you have kids!
HOW WE’RE CELEBRATING ADVENT THIS YEAR
Bryan has put together a seasonal Rule of Life for Advent and Christmas, and we’d love to invite you to join in these practices with us! Here’s what we’ll be doing these next few weeks:
Prayer and Devotion
Pray and read scripture, liturgy, or devotional each day. (Choose your favorite Advent devotional, read the lectionary passages, etc.)
On Sunday evenings, light the Advent candle, and pray the weekly Advent prayer from The Book of Common Prayer. (Check our blog and social media as we share these prayers each week.)
Technology
Pray and read before looking at our phones.
Spend an hour a day with our phones off. (We give Justin Earley credit for these practices.)
Giving
Make it a point to prayerfully consider how to be generous and give to others in this season. We have some specific ministries we’ll be supporting this year, but giving doesn’t just have to be int he form of monetary donations! Find a way to extend grace, encouragement, or time to someone in your immediate circle, church, or neighborhood.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends, and a happy start to this in-between season of waiting for the Light of the World to arrive.