What is advent really all about? ​

As Christmas approaches, everyone seems to step up a gear and get busier and more flustered.  We seem to miss the joy in life as we get busy trying to prepare all the stuff we think we need for Christmas time.
​If you arrive at Christmas day and are exhausted or pleased it's over, you probably haven't lived through Advent with the right focus.

Advent symbols:
​The Advent Wreath and the Jesse Tree:

The Advent wreath has four candles to count down the weeks before Christmas. Each week another  candle is lit, reminding us that Jesus comes to bring light to the world.

The Jesse tree is the whakapapa of Jesus, his family tree. It is usually a branch or small tree which refers to the scripture passage from  Isaiah 11:1
"A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots".
Throughout Advent  decorations are hung on the tree that represent people in the family tree of Jesus going back to Adam and Eve.   This is a powerful symbol that shows the connectedness of all humans and also that God's plan has been in place from the very beginning.

What do you think is worth waiting for?
Why do you think God gave us his Son Jesus here on earth?
God loves us so much - God wants to help us understand how to live a life that is full, and to understand that God wants to be part of our ordinary everyday life.
​
That's why Jesus came ... to get amongst all of it!!

John 1:14 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...'

​In John’s Gospel the use of this word flesh connects Jesus not only with all other human beings,
​but also with the whole world of living creatures.
 
Jesus "broke into history" of the planet, he breathed the same air as all the living creatures on Earth, ate the food grown from the same ground and drank water from the same raindrops.
In Jesus, God joins the web of life and became fully human - like us - and at the same time he was fully God.
(It's one of the great mysteries of the Church - we just need to know, not understand.)