An Invitation to Join Us for Advent.

Advent is a fast approaching and I once again wanted to invite you to celebrate the season with me.

This year’s Advent video focuses on our need to draw close to our Lord Jesus Christ during the Advent season.

The music is “In Toto Corde ~ Lament” from the CD, ANTIPHON by the Coram Deo Ensemble.
Music by Janet Chvatal, Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning
℗© 2011 Sola Scriptura Songs / ArkMusic.com
Used with permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Purchase & download high definition version here

During Advent each year I like to extend an open invitation to bloggers and would be bloggers to contribute posts. For those who are not bloggers, this is your invitation to join us for daily reflections and inspiration throughout the season. This is a wonderful way for us to get to know each other and enrich each other’s lives with our thoughts and prayers. The Advent/Christmas devotional Waiting for the Light that we published this year (now available in both paper and ebook versions) is a result of past blog series and we expect that other books like this will be published in the future.

This year’s blog series will be a real feast.  It will include the opportunity to participate in two synchroblogs as well as to contribute to Godspace during the Advent season. For those that are not familiar with synchroblogs, this is a collection of posts on a single theme made by a diverse group of bloggers who have agreed to blog on the that topic on the same day. This is your invitation to participate.

First you can join the synchroblog this Wednesday November 23rd on the topic Jesus is Coming: What Do We Expect? Christmas is probably the most widely celebrated Christian festival in the world.  Incredibly, the birth of a tiny baby two thousand years ago in an obscure village in Palestine still has the power to impact and transform lives.  Unfortunately it is also the most commercialized event on our calendars and even for many Christians is fast losing its religious significance. So what are we really expecting this Advent and Christmas season? Are we just waiting for a baby born in a stable or are we expecting a Saviour who will transform the world? This month’s synchroblog is centred around our expectations for the Advent and Christmas season. What are we expecting? How will it impact our lives and our faith? 

Many of these will be reposted at Godspace throughout the Advent season but I am also hoping for an ongoing series of new posts to add to the blog throughout Advent.  So if you are unable to contribute on Wednesday, there is still plenty of time to send me posts.

The series will end with another synchroblog December 28th on the topic Jesus Came: Did we Get What we Expected?.  Christmas Day has come and gone, even the after Christmas sales far more exciting for some than the birth of Christ, are behind us.  But did any of us really get what we expected?  This long anticipated season celebrating the birth of Christ our Saviour, often comes with unexpected consequences.  The gifts never quite meet everyone’s expectations and leave behind mountains of wrapping paper and ribbon that will add yet more indestructible rubbish to the landfills. And Jesus doesn’t always give us what we except either. We welcome him as a cute little baby but if we continue to journey with him, we soon realize that he wants to turn our world upside down. A child born in a stable is much easier to cope with than a revolutionary leader. This month’s synchroblog is centred around the unexpected consequences of our journey with Jesus. Where has it led us that we never anticipated? In what ways has it really turned our world upside down?