Advent is an unusual word. 

For people who live in ‘church world’ – Advent is a season of time within the church year. It’s the season prior to Christmas, it’s the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. But Advent is actually not just a season of time, but it has great significance for ‘who’ and ‘what’ we are about.

The word Advent itself comes from the Latin – adventus. 

ad – means ‘to’ and venire – means ‘come’.

To come.

So Advent, adventus, is all about arrival. It’s about the arrival of someone or something important. 

And in Christian theology it is about both the first and the second coming of Christ. It’s about his arrival at Bethlehem, and it’s about his arrival as judge when he comes again.

Here’s the Worship Intro Video from Advent Week 1.

Check back here each week during Advent to find the worship intros from each Sunday 9am service.

With the arrival of Jesus, four key Biblical themes were fulfilled: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

In the Bible people who have hope are very different from optimists! In this video, we’ll explore how biblical hope looks to God’s character alone as a basis for trusting that the future will be better than the present.

“Peace” is a very common word in English, that means different things to different people. It’s also a very important word in the Bible that refers not only to the absence of conflict but also to the presence of something else. In this video, we’ll explore the core meaning of biblical peace and how it all leads to Jesus.

In this video, we explore the unique type of joy to which God’s people are called. It’s more than happy mood, but rather a choice to trust that God will fulfill his promises.

Colloquially, ‘Love’ primarily refers to a feeling that happens to a person. In the New Testament, ‘love’ refers to a way of treating people that was defined by Jesus himself: seeking the well-being of others regardless of their response, or capacity to respond.