12/11/22 - Peppinos, pool, and Advent!

Good morning parents!

Last night we ate pizza, played some games, sang some Christmas hymns, and learned about Advent!

After some quality time playing pool and carpetball, Eli led us in some Christmas themed worship to set us up for our lesson surrounding Advent! We sang O Come O Come Emmanuel, Joy to the World, and Silent night, and our students are steadily getting a bit louder when we worship!

As we moved into our large group teaching, we spent some time talking about the origins of the advent season we celebrate. The early church would spend the 40 days leading up to the feast of epiphany in a time of fasting, prayer, and confession before celebrating Jesus' birth and baptism on January 6th! Somewhere in the middle ages this tradition was modified by protestant pastors to specifically include the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas, and the Dutch reformed church further adapted it in the 1600’s to the celebration we are used to today.

The wreath and candles that we light are beautiful reminders that we live in a world where Jesus has already come, the battle is won, and that He is coming again! The candles symbolize hope, faith, joy, and peace while the central candle represents Christ. We spent the last few minutes of our large group teaching talking about why Advent matters, and how it can be a helpful reminder in a world that is incredibly busy around Christmas time.

In our debrief groups we discussed whether or not observing seasons like advent are helpful or not, and how we can practically celebrate the joy that is offered by seasons like advent.

Next week we are having our year end Christmas party, and then we will take a break for a couple weeks and I will see you all in the new year! Thanks as always for checking in