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Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a season that the church has celebrated for hundreds of years as a time to focus on the coming of Christ - both his Incarnation two thousand years ago and his promised coming when he comes to restore all things.
My friend Bill Burns, who is our church's worship director, and I have written an Advent devotional guide for use in our church, Town North Presbyterian. He has structured it into four sections, each corresponding to a week of Advent and a theme for that week. And he has included the liturgy that we will use in our church on each Sunday in Advent. I have added to this a set of daily devotionals for the weekdays. Each devotional has a passage to read, a paragraph to help the reader understand the passage in light of the Advent theme of that week, a set of a few questions upon which to meditate, and a short prayer.
I invite anyone to join with us in focusing on the coming of Christ this month, so I have included the Advent guide (click to download). It is formatted for double-sided booklet format. This may be a bit confusing but I'm sure you can figure it out - the pages are numbered. To order, put the pages back to back and fold it like a booklet.
Just like everything else I encounter during these days of trials, this Christmas season has a different taste to me. I am hoping it will be a time of reflecting on the coming of Christ, a hope that is really my only hope.
Incidentally, the joyous art above is that of Anne Brink.