You might ask why we're calling our Christmas message series Adventure, or more accurately, ADVENT|URE. But, you might do well to back up a bit and ask the more basic question, why do we call our church "Quest?"
What's so adventure-y about Christmas? And what's so Quest-y about church?
Good questions.
We call this time leading up to Christmas "Advent" because advent literally means "to arrive" or "to come." But it also carries with it the idea of anticipation. So advent means anxiously awaiting the arrival of something or someone.
Which is certainly what we do as we consider the arrival of the Christ child.
But "adventure" takes advent a step further. Advent means to arrive, but the suffix -ure means "to go." So, adventure literally means, "go, so that you can arrive." But it also carries with it the idea of anticipation from the root "advent," as well as a new idea of undertaking unknown risks in order to get there.
So "going on an adventure" means undertaking a journey, eagerly anticipated in spite of risk, because arriving at your destination will be worth whatever danger you encounter on the way.
And this journey is at the center of all that we do. It's the central concept of the gospel. We're like Bilbo Baggins with his backpack, running out of the Shire, hollering to anyone who will listen, "I'm going on an adventure!"
Is this how you see your walk with Jesus and his people?
Is your spiritual life more like Frodo's long walk to Mordor, with his Fellowship of the Ring, or is it more like playing basketball once a week at the YMCA with a couple acquaintances?
I would argue that the gospel is either an adventure or nothing. It's either a journey to someplace that's so great it's worth the risk, or it's a waste of time.
And what's another word for that journey? A quest, perhaps?
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Join us at Quest in December to learn how the birth of this baby in Bethlehem fits into this Advent adventure.
www.quest-church.com
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