This advent we are going to do something distinct – Advent means arrival – and so we are going to celebrate not 1, not 2 but 3 arrivals of Jesus!

We are going to look back and celebrate the first arrival of Jesus.

• First arrival/advent – The first coming of Jesus as a baby
• Second arrival/advent – The Spirit of Jesus coming in our midst every day to lead us to join God’s work in the world.
• Third arrival/advent – The future return of King Jesus to make all things new

In church history, celebrating Christmas through advent has often been about all three advents or arrivals, even though we tend to focus on the first.

And the important thing is that all three of them help us live in hope!

So when we “celebrate advent” leading up to Christmas…

• We celebrate to remember the first advent/arrival
• We celebrate to watch for the second advent/arrival
• We celebrate in longing for the third advent/arrival

So this month not only will we look back at Jesus first arrival in the gospels, but we will talk about the second arrival of Jesus Spirit in our midst and how we can trust the empowerment of his spirit in our every day lives.

And we will also look at what we know about his third arrival that we see described in this beautiful vision in the book of Revelation.

But that can be a tricky book of the Bible to read, so we have some resources for you:

• Two Week class taught by Dr, John Dunne – NT Scholar – Sign up!
• Previous Sermon by Dr. John Dunne
• Videos from The Bible Project
• Book: Revelation For the Rest of Us by Scot McKnight
• Book: Reading Revelation Responsibly by Michael Gorman

This Advent season may we…

remember the first arrival of Jesus,

watch for the second arrival of Jesus Spirit in our midst,

long for the third arrival of Jesus when he returns to restore all things!