2022 DAILY ADVENT PRIMER PDF
We’ve put together a daily Advent 2022 primer to prepare our hearts this Advent season. The Primer can be done alone or as a family and takes about five minutes. Though quick, there is a depth to the questions, which we hope leads to significant reflection. The Advent primer covers the whole biblical story leading to Jesus. It leads to action, including some activities to do alone or with others, and it leads to prayer and engagement with Jesus through the Spirit. We pray that you encounter Emmanuel, “God with us,” throughout the season of Advent.
ADVENT HOME GATHERINGS
The season of Advent (the beginning of the Church calendar) is just around the corner! We want to allow anticipation to grow in our hearts and lives as we seek to slow down and prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As the holiday season around us picks up its busy pace, we intentionally slow down to lean into Jesus and one another around the table.
Our aim for the near future is to become a network of house churches that gather independently throughout the week and collectively together on Sundays. This Advent season, we will practice gathering around the table as the church together in homes. The first three weeks of December, we will not meet on Sunday mornings in The Tower as we regularly do. Instead, every Sunday of Advent in December each group will share a potluck brunch, participate in a simple Advent liturgy, and sing together as we pray “O Lord Jesus, come!”
Advent begins November 27 with our regular Songs and Stories gathering that will be held at The Tower. All Advent groups will meet and eat together at Songs & Stories. Then we will scatter into homes across the city for the remaining Sunday gatherings throughout Advent (Dec. 4,11,18). We will all come together again for a Christmas Eve Candlelight Gathering in The Tower on December 24th at 3:30PM
Signup To Join An Advent Home
Here’s what you need to do to join a group. Please register with the link above for a home to join and participate in throughout Advent. Each house has a group size cap, so feel free to choose whichever house still has open availability. Kids are included of course! When you register for a group as a family, please register yourself and your spouse (if married) individually. Once registered, we will send an email out to account for how many kids will be with you.
ADVENT SCHEDULE & LOCATION
Gathering at The Tower | Advent Sunday - November 27 | “Songs & Stories”
Gathering in homes | Advent Sunday - December 4
Gathering in homes | Advent Sunday - December 11
Gathering in homes | Advent Sunday - December 18
Gathering at The Tower | Christmas Eve - December 24 at 3:30PM
River & Way Regular Gatherings will resume Sunday, January 1st at 10:00 AM at The Tower
What is Advent?
The word Advent forms from the Latin advents, which simply means arrival. Advent is the coming, or the arrival of the presence of God himself - Jesus - Emmanuel…. "God with us." For hundreds of years, Christians from a wide variety of church traditions worldwide prepare for this arrival by observing Advent the 4 weeks before Christmas.
In this season of waiting, we slow down to celebrate, anticipate, and participate in preparing for the King's arrival. However, Advent's season seems to bring more stress, more hurry, and more concerns with stuff. Beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, we will gather each week in homes to practice simplicity within community. Simply sharing a meal together, reading from the Scripture, praying, and worshiping Jesus as we focus on different themes of celebration and anticipation—hope, peace, joy, and love.
