Advent – the adventure
Part of a series on Advent
“God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”
John 3:17 (MSG)
The word ‘Advent’ comes from the Latin adventus which means ‘arrival’ or ‘coming’1 and is closely related to the Latin word adventūra from which we get the English word ‘adventure’.2 This is fitting because the Christian season of Advent is an adventure towards the coming of Jesus.
As we approach Christmas, Advent provides a time for us to contemplate the significance of Jesus’s birth: that he came to bring grace and the forgiveness of sin and to put the world right. His arrival provided a great light to those who are walking in darkness (Isaiah 9:2). But in addition to our moments of contemplation and reflection, Advent is also a time for action, a time for an adventure.
The adventure of Advent is that with Jesus coming into our lives and living through us we can extend grace and forgiveness to other people. Whether with our family at home, our brothers and sisters in the church, our colleagues at work, or our neighbours in the community where we live, we can be the agents of the grace and forgiveness that arrived with Jesus (John 1:14; Luke 23:34).
An adventure means to take a chance and enter an exciting and possibly life-changing experience. It has the connotation of a thing about to happen and a movement forward in a new direction. As Jesus’s followers, we can embrace the adventure of Advent by living out the grace and forgiveness he brought. Advent becomes real when we, like Jesus, come to people with grace and forgiveness, rather than with judgement and condemnation, or simply telling everyone how bad the world is.
This Advent, can we be dispensers of God’s grace to those who are in pain and hurting because of the knocks of life? Can we be the bringers of forgiveness to a hurting world? These are the very things Jesus arrived on this earth to bring, and they provide for us the challenge and adventure of Advent.
When we open ourselves up to the adventure of Advent, Jesus can do miraculous things in and through us. An Advent adventure awaits – let’s embark on it together.
Prayer
Loving Father, during this season of Advent may we see afresh the grace and forgiveness we have received because of Jesus’s arrival on earth. And may we share this grace and forgiveness with others, not only at this time of year, but throughout our lives. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
1 adventus – Wikipedia
2 adventūra, LATIN – Google Search
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Study by: Barry Robinson About the author: |
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Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
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NW6 2BA
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gordon.brown@gracecom.church
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