This coming Sunday marks the beginning of the Advent season for followers of Christ.  The word “advent” is from a Latin word that means “coming.” This is the time when Christians look forward to the coming of Christ. We anticipate his arrival. We prepare for the fulfillment of the promise of our God to send a Savior to rescue us from our sins and restore us into a righteous relationship with him and with one another.

We’ll be celebrating Advent here at GCR with a simple liturgy at the beginning of our Sunday assemblies. Each Tuesday, I’ll post the liturgy for the coming Sunday in this space. Please read this liturgy more than a couple of times. Read it out loud. Meditate on it. Read the passage of Scripture. Out loud. Let these words soak into your soul as we prepare our hearts and our minds together for this most beautiful of seasons.

Today we light the first candle of Advent, the candle that reminds us of our hope.
We remember Israel’s hope for the coming of God’s promised Messiah.
We remember our hope for the promised second coming of Jesus.
We remember our need for a Savior to save us from our sins.
And we prepare to welcome Christ Jesus into the world and into our hearts.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

Peace,

Allan