Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?
What is Advent?
Advent is the four-week season of preparation to celebrate the coming of Jesus at Christmas. This year we will prepare room for Christ in our hearts and lives through daily readings in from Philip Reinder’s Seeking God’s Face and the occasional work of art: a song, a painting, or a poem. Something that will sneak past our usual barriers of noise, hustle and busyness to help cultivate a discerning eye for both our sin and the hope Christ carries with him.
Our hope is that this season of expectant waiting will help us to tap into both our sense that the world is not as it should be AND (a glorious and!) that God in Christ has come down to bring healing and consolation to our broken world and hearts. Advent is a season, then, where we say: All shall be well! Because the true King has come!
Call to Prayer
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isa. 52:7)
Scripture Reading
Read the following passages and then spend a moment in quiet stillness before God.
Readings: Psalm 89:1-4, 35-37 and James 5:7-11
Dwelling
Read again, perhaps out loud…how has God’s Word moved you? Ponder and meditate what has connected with your heart or mind…pray to God what it is that has moved you today…turn your thoughts to God and quietly enjoy being with him
Free Prayer
- Pray for spiritual renewal and the joy of salvation to be experienced
- Pray for the gifts and fruit of the Spirit in us
- Pray for a readiness to give a reason for the hope within us
Prayer
Ancient of Days, you had a beginning as a child; infinite God, you weren’t ashamed to take on our frail and finite humanity. I praise you, eternal God, for becoming one of us, because my salvation and resurrection depend on the reality of your body. Amen. (prayer based on the Belgic Confession, Question 19).
*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year
Wonder
Advent begins in the dark. Literally. It is the darkest time of the year. Advent, which begins our church calendar, begins facing this darkness. Advent comes to us as a gift of darkness, emptiness, and says – will you enter this period of waiting with me? Will you pause to remember and recognize your own emptiness and darkness – and practice longing for the light? These works of art invite us to enter into the wonder and waiting for the Light of the World to dawn on Christmas morn.
The Weary World Rejoices: A Gospel Coalition Advent Concert
Benediction
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.” (Luke 1:68)
