I have always loved Advent–the time to slow down, take stock, and prepare for the coming of the Lord.
Also, I get to sing some of my favorite songs. And light candles. I love lighting candles.
Somehow, though, I’ve failed to spread my excitement to my children. Part of the problem, I suppose, is that we haven’t been as consistent with it as my family was growing up.
Plus, I don’t play guitar, the way my dad sometimes did during Advent times when I was a child. And my kids mostly don’t like singing.
But, maybe, also, I’ve failed to tell this story right–because it’s an amazing story. God himself came to Earth as a human–starting as a tiny baby just like every one of us. He didn’t come for a few moments or hours, but for a lifetime. A lifetime filled with poverty and hard work, rejection and humiliation. It ended with a painful death (though that wasn’t the end of the story, just the end of his earthly life). He did all of that for us.
So, I’m getting some help. I love the Advent Project from The Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts at Biola. And I’m trying out a new Advent reading plan on the Bible app I have on my phone. (It’s the Youversion one.) And I’m thinking up ways to help my teens connect with this story they might not know as well as they think they do.
I want to be ready.
This year is a new opportunity. What better time to try again to tell this story right?