Advent Devotions
2018 Advent Devotions
This year’s Advent Devotions are provided by Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS). Each year Pittsburgh Theological Seminary offers their Advent and Lent devotionals for free. You are invited to read daily messages written by members of their community.
How to access the devotions:
- PDF of the full series
- Daily email
- Visit PTS News Sign Up page (linked above).
- Complete the required information and select Devotionals (Advent and Lent). Please note that other e-newsletters are available.
- Click “Subscribe.”
- PTS Devotions app — The Seminary’s Advent and Lenten Devotionals are available through a free app for your Android or Apple device.
- Visit PTS’s website to view a post or PDF each day
A limited number of printed devotions will be available in the Sanctuary narthex and adult Sunday School classes on The First Sunday of Advent. Additional copies can be picked up in the church office.
RRCB’s 2017 Advent Devotions
Devoting Time to Anticipation
The season leading up to Christmas tends to be a hectic one. We’re busy buying and planning and decorating for the holidays – and sometimes we just forget to stop and remember the depths of the spiritual meaning to these few weeks.
The church season of Advent helps us to do this well, providing a time of anticipation that draws us into the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love as we approach the celebration of the birth of the One who brings hope, the Prince of Peace, the Joy of our Salvation, and the embodiment of Love on Earth.
Advent 2017 begins Sunday, December 3, and each day of the season, we will post here a devotional focused on one of the four themes of the season, and ending with a focus on the Christ child at Christmas:
December 3-7: Hope
December 8-12: Peace
December 13-17: Joy
December 18-22: Love
December 23-24: Christ
These devotionals were written by members of River Road Church, Baptist, and they are accompanied by art drawn by our children (and a couple of our adults!) to represent this season and all it means for us as Christians.
I hope you’ll take a few moments each day to read these devotionals as we anticipate the coming of Christ together in the coming weeks.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!
In Christ,
Libby
Header Art by Evan
Content Art by Michael
Photo by Libby Grammer
Day Twenty-two: Not just a baby
“Not just a baby” a poem by Dan Bagby
Day Twenty-one: What Child is This?
We are lighting the final Advent candle and awaiting the lighting of the Christ candle.
Day Twenty: God is Love
The variety of ways people picture God amazes me.
Day Nineteen: Giving Love Away
1 John 3:16-18
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
Day Eighteen: Imitate the God of Love
From the simple verse, “God is love,” that we learned as children, those of us in the church are reminded over and over again that God loves us:
Day Seventeen: For God so Loved the World
Don’t you love the music of Christmas?
Day Sixteen: Love is a Verb
In Knoxville, Tennessee this summer, it came to me for the first time: the four Sundays of Advent flow in a logical, and to my way of thinking, a needed sequence.
Day Fifteen: Wait… What? Where’s Christmas Joy?
I admit it: I have trouble finding joy during the Christmas season.
Day Fourteen: Learning to Walk in Joy
When Ella was first learning how to walk, I told Daniel that one of my favorite sounds was hearing her toddle through the house.
Day Thirteen: Joy Seeds
A mother looks deep into the eyes of her infant son, as she holds his hands and pours out babbling baby-talk to him.
Day Twelve: Sweet “Hymns” of Joy
Years ago at a Christmas service the last stanza of “O Holy Night” suddenly captured my attention.
Day Eleven: Ruminations on “Joy”
There are a lot of nasty things going on in the world.
Day Ten: Serenity
For many, myself included, this time of year can be one of melancholy, and with the days growing shorter, and the signs of lushness falling to the ground, it is easy to consider that the land itself feels the same way.
Day Nine: Swords into Plowshares: An Advent Meditation on Peace
Imagine Mary and Joseph adoring the newborn Baby Jesus.
Day Eight: Where do you find peace this season?
The concept of me writing an Advent devotion for others to use seemed crazy.
Day Seven: My Peace I Give to You
John 16:33
I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world, you face persecution.
But take courage; I have conquered the world!
Day Six: Let There Be Peace on Earth
Recently, Ken Burns’ PBS special on the Vietnam War brought into our homes the horrors of war with its gruesome cost in human life, national strife, and political upheaval.
Day Five: Christmas: A Time of Hope
“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid: for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.’” Luke 2:10
Day Four: Believing in Hope
I recently made a trip to Macy’s in search of “just the right Christmas gift.”
Day Three: Assurance of Things Hoped For
If we were looking for things that suppress hope, we would not have to look far.
Day Two: I Hope
“I hope.” These words may constitute one of the shortest prayers we will ever say. I don’t mean hope as it refers to wishful thinking.
Day One: Advent Hope: God is with Us
Many years ago, The New York Times ran an article about the Judith and Martin Markovitz from Newton Township, Pennsylvania.
Devoting Time to Anticipation
The season leading up to Christmas tends to be a hectic one. We’re busy buying and planning and decorating for the holidays – and sometimes we just forget to stop and remember the depths of the spiritual meaning to these few weeks. The church season of Advent helps us...