Awaiting the Already
2020 Advent Worship Series

Advent is a lot like waiting for pictures to develop.  Of all the seasons in the Christian year, it best captures the dynamic tension between the past and the future, in a way that fills us with hopeful anticipation in the present.  When we journey to Bethlehem, it’s not that we think Jesus has not been born, and it’s not just that we believe Jesus will come again.  It is about opening a freshly developed set of photographs, and allowing the past and the future to amaze us again in the present, as if the arrival of Jesus were happening for the very first time.  Advent is not a time of pretending that Jesus has never been born; it is a time of preparing for what that birth might mean for us today.

Over the course of this series, we will traverse familiar territory, hearing the stories we have heard countless times over the years.  The four Gospel writers, like photographers, will each assume a different angle on the action, panning, zooming and selectively choosing which parts of the birth narrative best convey their message.  Altogether, these stories form one of the essential narratives of our faith:  the anticipation and arrival of the Word Made Flesh.  That “thrill of hope” can only come from waiting.  So, welcome to Advent.  Let’s await the already together.

(Awaiting the Already, pp. 10-12)

This series is based on Magrey R. deVega’s book:  Awaiting the Already: An Advent Journey Through the Gospels.

Weekly themes for the series are as follows:

Week One (November 29, 2020): Mark: Slow Down, Pay Attention

Week Two (December 6, 2020): Matthew: The World as It Is

Week Three (December 13, 2020): Luke: The Ultimate Playlist

Week Four (December 20, 2020): John: The Light in the Darkness

Christmas Eve (December 24, 2020): Preparing for Christ

Week Five (December 27, 2020): Titus: Paul’s Christmas Letter

Materials are from the The Salvation Army USA Central Territory and can be found here:  https://www.samusiccentral.org/advent-worship-series