Advent is the season of preparation, waiting, and expectation. We often spend the weeks leading up to Christmas with little time to pause and prepare ourselves for the gift that God continues to give to us: a Savior.

This Advent season as we continue follow Jesus our practice is to “Go Tell” the good news that God has come to live among us. The author of our Advent study this year, Rev. Thomas Long, writes: “Jesus came to Galilee,” Mark tells us, “proclaiming the good news of God.” Jesus came as a preacher, a proclaimer, as one who announced the realm of God. Jesus understood this role to be his defining mission. Jesus insisting on keeping his focus on proclamation. “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also,” he said, “for I was sent for this purpose.” All of the aspects of Jesus’ ministry—his teaching, his healing, his forgiving of sin, his feeding the hungry, his sending out of the disciples—are expressions of this core mission: to announce the realm of God. Jesus did this in words and also in deeds.”