The season of Advent is upon us.  The word is derived from the Latin “adventus”,” which means ‘to come. ‘ Literally the word references the appearance or coming of someone important or of noble birth.  There are many traditions connected to Advent.  There may be mid-week services held to prepare the way for the Lord, with special choir music or pageantry.  The addition of Christmas decorations to the sanctuary and angels of gold might be added.  Some count down the days to Christmas by using an Advent calendar.  Recently I heard of another way to walk to Christmas with the reading of the book of Luke, which includes 24 chapters, just enough to get us to Christmas Eve.  So this is in my plan for a new Advent tradition beginning this year.  Starting tomorrow, I will begin with Chapter 1 of Luke.

Luke was a follower of Jesus, Christ, but he never actually met Him.  It was assumed that he was friends with Jesus’ mother, Mary.  The second chapter of Luke, deals with her story and is written from her perspective. He became acquainted with two of the most important evangelists for Christianity – Peter and Paul. He is considered one of the original church fathers and was the writer of the Gospel of Luke along with the book of Acts.  He was a Greek, born in the city of Antioch.  He was known to be a physician and a educated man.  His knowledge of history is apparent as he delved into the book of Acts.  Many hours, spent with the Apostle Paul were actual interviews with him.

Luke has the complete life of Christ written in his book.  Inspired by God, he penned the words that would show the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy and the truth of God’s perfect salvation for man.  Since I’m not a theologian I don’t claim to know much about the man – only what I’ve read about him.  The important thing about Luke, was his sealing of the facts of the virgin birth, the treacherous journey to Bethlehem, the difficult life of poverty, following the carpenter’s trade of his step father, the ministry of Jesus and His eventual walk to the cross.  The final chapter deals with the resurrection of Jesus and what that means to all of us.

Each day I’ll ask you to read a chapter from Luke.  Then I will discuss some of the highlights of each of them and ask for your thoughts too.  We are about to begin a wonderful adventure as we travel trough the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, Christ.