by Kelly Soifer
Unexpectedly, I was asked to teach about Advent in two distinctly different contexts: to an adult Sunday school at my church, where the ages range from 40-75, and to the student body of a Christian high school where I was the campus pastor. I thought it would be a cool challenge to keep my lessons essentially the same for both age groups (either that, or I’m really lazy and didn’t want the extra work).
After only two weeks of this grand experiment, I have concluded that very few people outside pretty traditional liturgical churches, whether aged 14 or 75, knows much about Advent! What a sad state of affairs. Advent dates back to the fourth century and is a remarkably symbolic, powerful spiritual exercise. Before I started preparing these lessons, I thought Advent was about cute little kids, candles, and calendars with candy. So did a lot of others! Boy oh boy, are we missing the boat.
Advent is not only a reminder of how God-followers waited for Messiah 2,000 years ago; Advent guides us in our own wandering today as we wait for that dear Messiah to come again for us. In other words, it’s not just about the first coming; it’s about his Second Coming too. Advent is intended to be practice for an entire life of “Advent faith,” where we wait daily with hope and expectation.
Click the link below to download an introductory lesson on the power of Advent, in PowerPoint (MS) and Keynote (Mac). The lesson is purposely “non-Christmas-y” in its formatting and backgrounds in order to get your class or group to break Advent out of a solely Christmas mindset. Make sure you read the comments (MS Word version) or Presenter Notes (Keynote) to now how to guide the lesson.
Buon Natale! An Introductory Lesson on Advent—PowerPoint
Buon Natale! An Introductory Lesson on Advent—Keynote