Advent is a fairly new concept to my family. We celebrated it last year and are presently participating this year, personally and with our church family.
Here is a great explanation, from The Worship Sourcebook, of what Advent is and how it is intended to keep our eyes focused on the coming Christ.
The Advent season includes the four Sundays preceding Christmas. It is a season of waiting, and is designed to cultivate our awareness of God’s actions—past, present, and future. In Advent we hear the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming as addressed to us—people who wait for the second coming. In Advent we heighten our anticipation for the ultimate fulfillment of all Old Testament promises, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb, death will be swallowed up, and every tear will be wiped away. In this way Advent highlights for us the larger story of God’s redemptive plan. A deliberate tension must be built into our practice of the Advent season. Christ has come, and yet not all things have reached completion. While we remember Israel’s waiting and hoping and we give thanks for Christ’s birth, we also anticipate his second coming at the end of time. For this reason Advent began as a penitential season, a time for discipline and intentional repentance in the confident expectation and hope of Christ’s coming again.
You can also read Noel Piper explain Advent here.
Dan Rolfe has posted an Advent call to worship here.
I intend to continue to post thoughts concerning Advent throughout the season.

