Posts Tagged ‘advent’
Advent Prayer Guide: Taking Heart
We dwell in a world still racked with extreme poverty, violence, mass displacement, and suffering. Covid-19 continues to expose these realities of injustice in new and overwhelming ways, and it feels debilitating. Advent is a moment to enter in, hold these realities, bring the grief we carry, sit in the brokenness, and long together for restoration.
For those of us who follow the Christian faith, Advent reminds us of the hope we have. In the aching, longing, and waiting we are reminded that,
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5
That’s why this Advent season, we want to invite those of you who share our faith to pray with us. Let us pray for the heaviness we carry and the brokenness we see in our own lives and in the world around us.
Through this guide, you will join others in the World Relief community in daily prayer for our refugee and immigrant neighbors. Let this Advent season be filled with renewal, rest, and restoration as we offer up our prayers.
Advent Week One: November 28
Read: Isaiah 9:2-7
Reflect & Pray: Christmas time is full of lights. There are houses with lights on their roof or your Christmas tree that is filled with little light bulbs and sparkle. Could these lights be a reminder this Christmas season of the light that broke into the darkness? God sent the One who is light to come into the darkness so that we could live in a relationship with him. The light has come!
Advent Week Two: December 5
Read: Ephesian 2:14-18
Reflect & Pray: In the midst of chaos, Jesus entered into our midst. He would live the life we could not live, fulfilling God’s requirement. When he entered, he brought with him perfect peace. Peace that heals, peace that reconciles, peace that invites, peace that challenges, and peace that brings hope.
Advent Week Three: December 12
Read: John 13:34-35
Reflect & Pray: The distinguishing mark of Christ’s followers is love. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Our love compels us to serve sacrificially and welcome our neighbors whether they be natural-born or foreign-born.
Advent Week Four: December 19
Read: Luke 1:46-56
Reflect & Pray: Mary’s song is a hymn of praise. She expresses her confidence that God will be true to his promises to his people. We can have this same confidence that God will be faithful to what he is doing in us, in our communities, and in our world.
Continuing in Prayer: December 26
Read: Psalm 27:13-14
Reflect & Pray: We have celebrated the arrival of God’s Son coming into the world. This is how we know hope, peace, love, and joy. And now we remain in the Lord. We will see his goodness, we will wait, and we will take heart.
More ways to pray with World Relief:
4-Week Advent Devotional: An Invitation to Welcome
What is Advent?
Advent focuses on the season of expectation as those of us who are Christians anticipate the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth at Christmas. Throughout Church history, Christians have observed Advent, first to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus, and then to look forward to someday when He will return.
Today, the four Sundays before Christmas are an opportunity for the Church to remember the birth of Christ, celebrate what His life and death meant for the world, and look forward to the day when He will come again.
We call this season Advent, when we reflect on the themes of hope, love, joy, and peace and acknowledge each as a good gift from God that can give us a unique way to think about our relationship to Him.
All four weeks of Advent lead up to the culmination on Christmas Day when Christians celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ’s arrival on earth!
Answering the Invitation
The Christmas season is special for Christians – because as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus Christ’s arrival on earth and welcome His presence, we have an opportunity to welcome our new neighbors – arriving immigrants and refugees.
Jesus said, “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”
Matthew 25:35
We believe that this verse and the season of Advent provide an opportunity.
It is a call for us to welcome strangers, including immigrants and refugees, the same way we would want to welcome Jesus!
Download the Advent Devotional: Invitation to Welcome
That is why we created this Advent devotional guide for you. It’s an invitation to join with your friends. Your loved ones. A small group. Or your family. Together, this is a guide for celebrating Advent in light of our Christian calling. Will you join us and learn about our calling to create just communities of love and welcome?
More Advent Resources from World Relief Chicagoland: