Christmastide: A Light

We’re taking a break from our series in 1 & 2 Peter to join millions of our sisters and brothers in the faith in celebrating the Advent Season — something the Church has done for centuries. Advent comes from the Latin word adventus which comes from the Greek word parousia. Parousia in the Scripture references Christ’s second coming (cf. Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1,8,9; James 5:7,8; 2 Peter 1:16; 3:4,12; 1 John 2:28). This is why — to many evangelical protestants surprise — the Church has always celebrated Advent with a dual focus on both the celebration of Christ’s first Advent and the anticipation of his second.

For the commercial world, Christmas ends at midnight on 12/25 — followed only by retail sales. But in the liturgical calendar, Christmas Day is just the beginning of the Christmas season (Christmastide) — a celebration that will continue for twelve more days, until the feast of Epiphany. This final Sunday of our Advent Series, we dove deeper into the reality-altering doctrine of the Incarnation. We explored John 1:1-18 and learned that the Law that God brought through Moses necessitated grace and truth that could only comes through the embodied Word, Jesus. We then talked about the implications of this Incarnate Word in/through our lives by looking at Matthew 5:14-16.

Give the sermon, ‘Christmastide: A Light,’ a listen and we hope to see you this week at a Family Meal and/or a DNA group to dive even deeper.