Advent

Advent comes from the Latin word for an "arrival" or a "coming". Advent means that the Lord is coming. Jesus Christ, our brother in our humanity and our God in His divinity is about to arrive. He comes to us in different ways.

~First, Jesus came to us at a specific point in history at Bethlehem about 2000 years ago.
~Second, the Lord, Alpha and Omega, will come to judge the living and the dead in the Second Coming.
~Third, the Redeemer comes to us in grace. His Spirit enters our lives and works through us.

Some people fast during Advent to help them remember that Christ is coming, then break the fast on Christmas symbolizing His arrival... we are no longer in want. We have been given the only gift we ever truly need.

I love Advent because it reminds me of what He was coming to do, that He would go so far as to become human and feel all the pain we feel and be amongst the evil of the world all leading up to death on a cross.
Sometimes that gets left out of the Christmas story. We tend to focus on the miraculous conception, and his birth in a stable, and forget momentarily what He came to do. He didn't come to have people go, "ooh, look at Him. He can be born as a human." No. He came to give everything without any personal perks. He was a poor man, born in a stable, lived on the road ministering, and gave His life in pain.

Today in Sunday school we talked about Gariel visiting Mary and telling her that she would be Christ's mother. What would it have been like to have an angel come and tell you something impossible like that? At first I'd probably think that I was going nuts, but she was willing to do whatever God wanted. Back then women were stoned or cast out of their communities for pregnancies outside of marriage, yet she trusted God to take care of her in her obedience, and He did.