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ADVENT
A Season of Promise
Download the Advent Devotional Booklet 
Although the world around us begins
celebrating Christmas around the middle or end of
October, the Church doesn’t get to Christmas until
December 24. Instead, we spend 4 weeks preparing,
waiting. Advent is a season of promise, a forward
looking season. We await the promise of Jesus’
coming – as a son born of Mary – as the Savior and
Sovereign of the world, the one whose coming marks
the end.
Waiting . . . Who likes to wait? Waiting
indicates incompleteness. Waiting also indicates
hope, expectation. In Advent we wait – for the
promises of God to be fulfilled. We wait with
expectant hope: the expectant waiting for the coming
together of the Heavens and the Earth, for the divine
fully present in the fully human. Almighty God
deigns to be imminent, accessible, knowable.
Almighty God will come, and make all things new.
In Advent, we wait expectantly for the greatest of
promises to be fulfilled, for the greatest of mysteries
to be realized.
As you wait, as you watch, use this devotional
program. It’s designed to be used when the Advent
wreath is lit every week.
Before you begin, use this prayer to bless your
Advent wreath:
By day and by night,
and through every season,
you watch over us, Lord.We thank you for this Advent wreath.
It is evergreen,
calling to our attention your ever present love.
It shines with the promise of eternal life.By the light of this wreath,
may we follow the way of your people
whose hearts are restless
until they find their rest in you.By the light of this wreath
we shall wait in patience and in hope
for your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who comforts our fears
and brings hope to the world.As we light these candles,
may we grow in the love and light of Jesus Christ
whom we await.
Your kingdom come, Lord.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
NEXT: Advent Devotional - Week One >>>
Updated December 2, 2009