Advent Devotional – Partners in Prayer 2012
For years, Partners in Prayer has been a gift to congregations, small groups, and individuals looking to make a connection during the season of Advent. With scripture readings, meditations, and prayers each day, Partners in Prayer will serve as your guide to the coming of Christmas. devotional transform you this Advent season.
We normally use the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to prepare. We decorate our homes, plan our Christmas meal, shop for gifts, and trim our Christmas tree. But how often do we use that time to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of Christ’s birth?
“Let’s not fall among those who focus solely on the destination only to miss the incredible adventure that is the journey. This year, let’s embrace Advent as a season not merely of waiting, for waiting often signifies inactivity. Instead, let’s embrace Advent actively, with eagerness and excitement, preparing for the joy of the birth of love and peace in our lives and in our world. This year, as we prepare for Christ’s coming, may we prepare our own hearts and minds more deeply and intentionally.
“About this we can be sure: Christmas will come. Somehow we’ll wind up on December 24 realizing it’s almost that time…the big day. Show time! Only this year, we’ll have not missed Advent. We’ll have not missed that unique opportunity to prepare for it, participate in it, and practice what it means to take an active role in the birth of Christ’s peace and love in the world. This year, it will be the peace that we had an active part in calling forth and bringing about.”
— Amy Gopp
For years, Partners in Prayer has been a gift to congregations, small groups, and individuals looking to make a connection during the season of Advent. With scripture readings, meditations, and prayers each day, Partners in Prayer will serve as your guide to the coming of Christmas. devotional transform you this Advent season.
Amy Gopp, the author, is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), is the Executive Director for Week of Compassion, the relief, refugee, and development ministry fund of the Disciples. She responds to her calling to the work of Christ by serving as a global activist and peacemaker-one who through dynamic preaching and creative teaching urges God’s people to engage in compassionate service that imbues hope and empowerment for all.