A Short Guide for Practicing Advent
Advent marks the beginning of the Liturgical year. During Advent, the church does not rush to Christmas, but lives in the themes of waiting and expectation.
During Advent, we set aside time to look inward and outward to identify the places in our world and our lives where we await his gracious and healing presence.
Join us for Advent Sundays at 4 PM at 5001 Hickman Dr. in Des Moines!
Themes of Advent
Waiting & Longing
“It [advent] reminds us that we are a people marked by longing, exiled in a world of tears. But we are not abandoned. We are waiting for redemption—for a wholeness that has come yet is still coming, just over the horizon, just beyond our grasp, but rushing towards us minute by minute, day by day.”
—Tish Harrison Warren
Judgment & Hope
“In the church, this is the season of Advent. It’s superficially understood as a time to get ready for Christmas, but in truth it’s the season for contemplating the judgment of God. Advent is the season that, when properly understood, does not flinch from the darkness that stalks us all in this world. Advent begins in the dark and moves toward the light—but the season should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness. As our Lord Jesus tells us, unless we see the light of God clearly, what we call light is actually darkness: “how great is that darkness!” (Ma2. 6:23). Advent bids us take a fearless inventory of the darkness: the darkness without and the darkness within.”
― Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ
Already & Not Yet
“Our lives are eschatologically stretched between the sneak preview of the new world being born among us in the church and the old world where the principalities and powers are reluctant to give way. In the meantime, which is the only time the church has ever known, we live as those who know something about the fate of the world that the world does not yet know. And that makes us different.”
—Tish Harrison Warren
Book Recommendations
Advent for Everyone by N.T. Wright
Advent: The Season of Hope by Tish Harrison Warren
Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
