Four weeks of Jesus to get ready for Christmas

This week, John Stonestreet and I talked about the meaning of the Advent season. By following the church calendar and setting aside the four weeks before Christmas to prepare for the coming of Christ, Christians can get into a different rhythm than the rest of the culture.

“One of the things that Advent reminds us of is that this world belongs to God,” Stonestreet said. “It’s four weeks of preparing oneself for the coming of Christ … to celebrate the first coming and to expect the second coming.”

Stonestreet said evangelicals should embrace the tradition of the church calendar that comes from Catholicism.

“For a lot of us, this season kind of happens to us. We’re kind of victims of it,” he said. “I think remembering and celebrating Advent, and honoring it, and intentionally doing things to set up this season as a time of remembrance of Christ and expectation of his second coming is something that can only do us good.”

Some resources to help families celebrate Advent include: Michael Card’s album The Promise, a Celebration of Christ’s Birth; Buck Denver Asks … Why Do We Call It Christmas?, a video by VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer; and Sally Lloyd-Jones’ The Jesus Storybook Bible and Song of the Stars.

Listen to my conversation about Advent, along with John Stonestreet’s thoughts on the Eric Garner case, on The World and Everything in It: