Summary: The heart of advent is found embedded in the word itself. Advent means arrival. We celebrate the arrival of Christ, our Savior, into the world. When we celebrate Advent, we celebrate the fact that our king has arrived. Even more so, we celebrate what John speaks of his gospel: "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." Christ has come. Christ is here. Christ will come again. We anticipate and await this as we enter the stories and rhythms of the Advent season.

Through Advent we will continue our emphasis on stewardship as we examine our tendency to go through the motions of life, often allowing busyness and distraction to extract the wonder and mystery of the advent season. We will look at the shepherd's story in Luke 2 and how Wonder took them all the way to the manger where their Savior was born.

When have you been overcome with the joy of the Lord? If you're low on joy this Advent season, how might you recuperate it?