Waiting with Mary in Advent
When it comes to cultural acceptance of Christian feasts and festivals, “holy days,” nothing comes close to Christmas. And what’s not to love? The gifts, the music, the traditions, the celebration…the gifts. We enjoy the immediacy of Christmas, which shouldn’t surprise us, given that we live in an on-demand world.
A world like that, one that delivers on-demand everything, needs Advent. Celebrated rightly, Advent offers a slow build to a cosmos-altering event. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the uncreated Son of God taking on flesh in humanity’s weakest form. But despite its name—the Latin adventus means “arrival”—the season of Advent is about waiting.
And no person in the New Testament better personifies this waiting than Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, who plays a principal role in the Christmas story.
Join Jamie Cain as he dives into the themes of Advent in the tenth installment from his series, Telling Time in Church: Rediscovering the Church’s Liturgical Calendar.
Come, Lord Jesus Meditations
Take some time this Christmas season to work through this series of guided Advent meditations. Hope. Joy. Love. Peace.
Pauses for Advent
In this devotional book, Pauses for Advent: Words of Wonder, Martin Institute Dallas Willard Center Senior Fellow Trevor Hudson focuses on one biblical word of wonder each day leading up to Christmas. Pausing for a few moments to read Hudson’s meditations on the word for the day will guide readers to a deeper understanding of Advent. Hudson also briefly explores the lives and thoughts of four significant characters in the Christmas story, encouraging readers to immerse themselves in the dramatic story. His simple approach provides a doable daily practice and gently leads readers to discover how they can open their hearts and lives more generously to God.
An Advent Reflection on Luke 1
Join spiritual director, Jean Nevills, on a reflective journey through the lives of a few supporting characters within the Christmas story. Her thoughts and insights are simultaneously ancient and novel, making this article an epiphany-inducing read.