Advent Devotional
Dec. 1 - Dec. 25
A Weary World Rejoices
An Advent Devotional for When It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas
Introduction
“For more than a millennium, Christians around the world have set aside a season to remember and proclaim the arrival (or “advent”) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The story of Christmas is way more than just one day can hold. We need a whole season to marvel at the incarnation of our Lord. We need time to let our hearts prepare him room. We need space to retell his story to our friends and family.
But life doesn't often create time and space for us to reect on the gospel. In fact, for many of us, our circumstances make it dicult to celebrate at all this Christmas season. Sometimes, it doesn't feel like Christmas, and so we need a little help to see the light of Christ in the darkness around us.
We designed this devotional for that purpose-to help our church family remember and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, right there in the middle of the ups and downs of real life.
The devotional begins on December 1. Each entry takes a few verses from the Summit Bible Reading Plan for the day and provides a Christmas devotion, with an opportunity for you to respond. It should take about 10 minutes each day to do.
At the end of each entry we've provided a prompt for “Engaging with Kids.” Whether you spend time with kids this season because you are a parent, a doting aunt or uncle, a caregiver, or an invested community member, these prompts will help you contextualize the verses you are reading. Celebrating Christmas with kids always seems to make it more fun, and practicing Advent with kids may increase your sense of wonder. You can use these prompts every day, once a week, or just when it works out. Whether you choose to use these prompts with kids or not, we hope that they help you reclaim the joy of this season.
So from the young ones making their first Christmas memories, to those who have celebrated more Christmases than we can recall, this Advent season we join the crowd of Christians who came before us, along with our brothers and sisters around the world, to welcome the King again as we await his return in glory.