This Week’s Text: John 16:16-24

Once upon a time there was a season in the church year known as “Advent.” The word comes to us from the Latin for “coming.” The purpose of the season was to look toward the coming of Christ to earth; it was a season that focused on waiting.

So this Advent season consider how your family might celebrate the discipline of waiting. Set aside a few moments each evening to consider biblical texts that tell about the first and second comings of Jesus. Or select a book for the month—maybe a novel that guides your family to glimpse both the beauty and the brokenness of God’s creation—then turn off the television each night and take time to read to one another. Or work together to list some ways that the world is broken; then even as you long for the return of Jesus to make the world right recognize that God’s work in the world is already underway. God is making the world new even now through the power of the resurrection among his people; so plan a family activity that joins in God’s redeeming work by setting something right or relieving human suffering in your neighborhood. Whatever you do let it remind you that because God has promised to make the world new and has revealed this promise through an empty tomb no moment of waiting is meaningless. Every passing instant is pregnant with wonder and beauty and glory.