Lang Family Advent

Having the advent guide and the kit has helped us be more consistent with our advent celebration. We go through the individual portion in the morning—sometimes together, other times on our own. That prepares us to guide the kids through it in the evening and even incorporate it throughout the day through crafts, songs, or everyday discipleship moments. The lighting of the candles created a daily hands-on rhythm in our home that the kids looked forward to and would remind us of if it was getting closer to bedtime and we hadn't sat down together yet. It brought us together as a family and created a unified lens for us to look at the whole Christmas season through, both as a family and with First City as a whole.

There is something truly special about knowing that most of the church was sitting down together each day reading through the same passages. It was fun to imagine all the different families and friends sitting around their wreaths worshiping in a similar way. It was unifying and, for me, embodied some of the significance of Jesus's coming.

I really enjoyed that there was both the morning and evening portion. It brought the truths of Christmas to the forefront of my mind and helped shape my focus throughout the day with my kids and the people around me. It opened the door to some beautiful and thought-provoking questions from our kids and helped them to more tangibly recognize the personhood of Jesus and his birth as an actual truth, not just a fun holiday we celebrate.

My favorite memories from Christmas last year always involved us sitting in the living room with no lights on except the candlelight from the advent wreath and the Christmas tree, watching the light flicker on all my kids' faces as we snuggled together on the couch and listened to Steve read the Word. Juliana was only nine months old and would often sit in his lap, squirming and trying to flip the pages. Honestly, some nights were wilder than others but it gave me a deeper appreciation for my husband and my kids as we prayed, read, sang, and learned how to worship Jesus together as a family.

In the churches I attended growing up there was the "Jesus is the reason for the season" "keep Christ in Christmas" vibe, but it didn't go much deeper than that. Going through Exodus and then jumping right into the advent study transformed the way I celebrate and prepare for the holiday season. The theme of "waiting" deepened my understanding of celebrating Christ's first coming in eager anticipation and excitement for His second. Learning in Exodus about the ways God's people were to have themselves prepared—physically and spiritually—for the work God was doing and faith in the promises He made and then celebrating the mind-blowing fruition of that in His birth created this longing and awe in how that will come to completion in His second coming.