How many Advent seasons have you celebrated throughout your life? For many of us, we’ve been celebrating Advent every year of our lives; for others, Advent may be somewhat new, and for others, maybe even unknown.

Advent is part of the Church Year — the Church Year is basically a calendar where each day and every Sunday has a theme with particular Scripture lessons assigned to it1. Throughout the Church Year, there are different seasons, and that’s where Advent comes in. Advent is the first season of the Church Year – it lasts about four weeks – and it is a preparation time for the Christmas season. Then after the Christmas season, we move into Epiphany, which leads us into the Lenten season, which prepares us for the Easter season.

The important thing about the Church Year; and remembering and celebrating these “seasons”, is that it keeps us focused on Christ and His Word. These seasons teach us the story of Christ every year. Even though we celebrate these seasons every year, they do not get boring nor tedious. They are fresh, new, and exciting each time. This is one of the most important ways that we abide in Christ and abide in His Word until He returns on the Last Day. We make our home in the story of Christ; we learn and relearn to truths of Scripture, we deepen our understanding of the doctrines of the Faith, we hear and put into practice the teachings of Jesus, and we sing the great hymns and songs of the Christian faith. The seasons of the Church Year, like Advent, give you a proven and effective way to abide in Christ and His Word!

Advent is one way that we have to abide in Christ and His Word! As we start Advent today, we remember one of the major themes of Advent: God’s faithfulness:
• God is faithful and He kept His Old Testament promises to send the Messiah, the Savior, born in Bethlehem.
• God is faithful and He promises that you are saved from sin, guilt and death: He Himself came down from Heaven and does the work of salvation for you — His life, death and resurrection guarantees your salvation!
• God is faithful, and you can trust His Promises in Scripture to comfort, strengthen and stabilize you each day!

God is faithful: YOU CAN TRUST HIM!

Amen!