Advent: The Journey

1. Advent: The Journey “Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2. Why are you taking this class?What do you hope to gain? Write on front of notecard

3. Why I am leading this class?

4. Class structure • Begin at 10:45am, end at noon • Differentiated • Weekly notes • Documents online • Resources • Parking lot questions

5. Model for process of spiritual growthGrowing Faith by Bruce Powers • Awareness – recognize existence • Recall – able to recall or repeat information • Understanding – Interpret, interact with what has been learned • Conviction – attitudes are formed and commitments made • Application – apply attitude towards outward action

6. What do we know about Advent?What do we want to know? • Identify in pairs • Group share out

7. Advent 101 • Origin of word • Originally • Declaration of Jesus’ birthday • Beginning of Liturgical Year • 4 Sundays prior to December 25th: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Christ

8. Living advent • Preparation • Waiting

9. Spiritual disciplines by richard foster

10. What is best gift you have given and you have received? What made it so?

11. Advent conspiracy

12. Waiting • Describe something of value that you have waited to have. • What is waiting for the birth of a baby like? • The announcement • The waiting • The preparation

13. Preparing for the journey: Mary of Nazareth

14. For next week • Be in prayer and meditation about how you will journey through this Advent. • Read introduction and Chapter 1, Mary of Nazareth. • Bring any questions or comments.

15. Why advent? Write on the back of the notecard.