Advent at Sunridge
The beginning of December kicks off what is typically called the Christmas or Holiday season, but for followers of Christ, there’s also a distinct season we delight in celebrating at this time: Advent. Advent is the way that Christians throughout the centuries have joined together in anticipating the coming of Christ into the world. Sadly, our frantic pace of production, performance, or pressures that commonly accompany the weeks leading up to Christmas often drown out Advent…drown out our ability to discern and know his presence with us just as we are meant to commemorate the Incarnation, God with us.
In light of these things, we’re inviting our Sunridge church family to experience this month of December differently. Our goal will be to help each other not miss the daily presence of Christ by practicing Advent together in three very simple ways rooted in the gift of Scripture.
In direct correlation with our freshly-concluded November series, Breakthrough, we’re each invited to participate in the good news of the Savior’s arrival by 1) reading short, daily sections from the Gospel of Luke that coincide with our Sunday messages; 2) celebrating with our entire church family on the first night of Advent, marking fun, new traditions at Sunridge; and 3) lighting a daily candle, which will be provided at the aforementioned gathering, to signify our desire to abide in his presence. Throughout, our hearts will be formed by the words, “Stay with us, Jesus.”
Finally, we’ll conclude the Advent season by regathering for our Christmas Eve services on the final Friday of December, and, as a gift to our volunteers and staff, we’ll rest in on the final Sunday of 2021, December 26th, and have an online-only service that is pre-recorded and streamed.
“Stay with us, Jesus.”
During our First Night celebration on November 28, each individual or family will receive a “Stay with us, Jesus” candle to be lit for a portion of each day throughout the Advent season leading to Christmas. Lighting the candle will be our way to invite Jesus to stay with us, moment by moment, throughout the Advent season. In light of the account in Luke 24 of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, this will be an opportunity for us to pause on the road and not miss the presence of Christ with us in our busy December days, in which it can be particularly challenging to recognize him.
As you light your Advent candle daily, we invite you to make that a time of reading and meditating on the beginning portions of the Gospel of Luke, chapters that anticipate the coming of Christ, God with us. In conjunction with the 22-week calendared sermon series on Luke that will begin the first week of Advent, we have provided a daily scripture reading plan to guide you through the Gospel at the same pace as the weekly sermons. Our prayer is that all of us would experience the presence of the Living Word staying with us.
Scripture Reading Plan
Click HERE to download the PDF
Christmas Eve Services
Join us on Friday, December 24th, as we conclude our Advent season and celebrate the birth of Christ.
Services at 3:30pm and 5pm