Advent — Day 2

If you’re anything like me, you are pretty jazzed this time of the year! It’s the Season of Advent on the Church Calendar.

Advent is the time when we anticipate the coming of our LORD. We look back, remembering His coming to us as a baby long ago; and we look forward to His coming again – any day!

My son Simon’s kindergarten and first grade teacher, Joanna Gellermann, like her mother before her, had an annual tradition of giving her students an Advent Bag. The class parents were awestruck!

Twenty-five tiny gifts in a small paper bag were actually object lessons for the Bible passages tucked inside! Kids and their families got to unwrap the season with a reason, one day at a time.

This Advent series is dedicated to my Sister in Christ, Joanna Gellermann.

More than just a tasty treat —

what does a candy cane remind you of?

The story goes something like this…

Once upon a time, a candy maker created a dandy candy that could help tell folks about Jesus.

How? He chose white to represent Jesus’ life, sinless and pure.

Then he picked red, to symbolize the scourging and the blood Jesus shed for the sins of the whole world.

The shape is similar to a shepherd’s staff, which is fitting, as Jesus is The Good Shepherd.

Turn the staff upside-down, and it’s a J. The first letter in JESUS.

Give a candy cane to a friend this year, and tell them about Jesus, their Savior.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 10:11 (NIV)

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 19:1 New (NIV)

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

John 19:31-34 (NIV)

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

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Please come back tomorrow, for another installment of: ADVENT — Counting the Days to Christmas!

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