I grew up in a religious tradition that didn’t follow or even acknowledge a liturgical calendar, so I was an adult before I realized that feasts, fasts, and holy days weren’t relegated to the Old Testament.
Now Advent is my favorite time of the year. Our observance of it has evolved as we’ve had kids and as they’ve gotten older. We spend the forty days before Christmas recapping the story of God and his never-ending love for his creation, often using The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones as an anchor. Last year we incorporated more of the Psalms and used longer passages from the NIV.
On each Sunday of Advent, we gather around our table for a special activity or project. Three years ago, I started organizing this time around a theme. This year we’ll focus on gifts and grace. We’ll begin with the idea that when God’s people were exiled (from the Garden, wandering in the dessert, in Babylon), they were always given a gift (clothes to wear, manna to eat, the promise of a Messiah). We’ll end with thoughts about the gifts we’ve been given and how we can use them to serve in God’s kingdom.