Introducing: The Twelve Days of Advent

To my friends at Reformed & Confessional,

In December 2017, my wife and I were new parents to a one-year-old boy and a one-month-old girl. We committed to the Lord and each other to raise these two children for the glory of God, no matter the cost or circumstance. When the holiday season came around that year, I found myself perplexed regarding the fulfillment of my oath to my God and my wife. Red and green were everywhere: lights on houses, bulbs on trees, inflatables in front yards. Once, we took our children on a neighborhood walk in their strollers, and we found ourselves in the shadow of a 30-foot Santa Claus – no exaggeration. Of course, this is normative for the neighborhood, but what about inside the Christian home? What about inside the church? Should we utilize pagan practices to usher in the celebration of the Savior’s incarnation? Especially for a Savior who died to rescue his people from their pagan practices! In short order, I examined the scripture, the history of Christmas, and decided that "as for me and my house,” we would point ourselves and our children to the birth of Christ in December.

Then, I silently surveyed the practices of many people around me during the holidays while genuflecting on my own traditions. I became deeply convinced that the people of God around me who were married, single, with kids, without kids, young, old, college student, retired, etc., including myself, struggled to focus on the meaning and implications of the incarnation for two primary reasons: 1) the culture we live in largely pressures us into the rat race of consumeristic gift giving and receiving to the point that it usurps our affections away from Christ, and 2) we have ample practice celebrating the holidays according to the culture and don't really know a different way to observe the season.

At this point, I knew I needed to do something for God’s glory to point the Bride of Christ back to celebrating the historical ecclesiastical calendar in the observance of the first advent of Jesus. In June 2020, I began studying, reading, listening, writing, and talking to anybody who would listen about the first advent of Christ. During this time, I observed the connection between how the Prophets pointed Israel to the first coming of the Messiah with how the Apostles pointed the Church to the second coming of the Messiah. This observation led me on a journey that uncovered the connections between the first and second advent of Jesus. I committed to sharing these connections with as many Christ-followers as possible. And, in September 2021, I finished recording the final episode of what has come to be called: The Twelve Days of Advent. 

Starting December 2nd thru December 24th, a new episode, 5-10 minutes each, will be released every other day. You can access each episode wherever podcasts are available. You can also access episode manuscripts, including scripture references, quotations, and citations at thetwelvedaysofadvent.com. My vision is to glorify God by providing his people with a tool to help them start a new tradition in their lives, homes, families, and churches; a tradition that reflects on the meaning and events surrounding the first advent of Christ and projects the hope found in the second advent of the Savior.

Special thanks to my wife for patiently listening and affording me time to work on this endeavor. 

God is faithful,

John Fry

You can listen to this podcast Here