I’ve undergone a huge personality change over the years.  As a kid, I HATED waiting. Christmas, birthday, in line – didn’t matter.  I hated it.  HATED IT!!  I hated waiting so much that I would sneak into where my mom hid our presents – because she had to hide them from us – and I’d get my hands on the package.  I studied the size and weight of the gift.  I shook it.  Sometimes I even tried to carefully unwrap the gift with no tearing so that no one would know that I had sneaked a look.

You know what the sum total of all that craziness ended up being?  Disappointment for me.  The excitement was gone.  The thrill of not knowing, the anticipation… all gone when I knew what I was getting.  And another thing – I ended up being focused completely on what I was getting.  Not on anything else.

It’s a little different now.  I love the build up.  I love hanging with my family, playing games, and staying up until late arguing about college football.  I love going to church on Christmas Eve to sing carols and take communion.  I love the build up to Christmas because it gives me hope.  It gives me joy.  It gives me love.  And it gives me peace.

That’s the spirit of “Advent.”  Advent is a Latin word, and it literally means “coming.” The word was almost exclusively used to talk about the Winter Solstice.  As the days got shorter and the nights longer, people would light candles looking forward to the Winter Solstice.  On that day, the days would start to get longer, the nights shorter. The light was COMING!

Pretty easy to see the parallel of the coming of Jesus!  Advent for us means the coming of the Light of Jesus.  His coming made these four key words a reality for the human condition – hope, joy, love, and peace.

This year more than most, I am very aware of how much we NEED these four words.  I think people spend their whole life looking for these four words, and they never quite get it right.

This month will be a great time to invite your friends to experience Advent with us at Western Hills.  We will learn what eternal hope, joy, love, and peace looks like, as well as how we can experience it ourselves.  I hope you join us.