Advent 2025 Day 1: Welcome!

Day 1, November 30, 2025

Introduction

Welcome to Advent 2025. I love this liturgy (habit) of meditating on more than presents or Christmas day, or just Jesus' birth. Advent is about sitting in contemplation and anticipation, reflecting on the meaning of Jesus' coming as a fragile newborn to an unsuspecting world that needs Him deeply.

Consider gathering four candles, one for each week: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. I hope this devotional series is a time to practice calming, centering, and presence. I hope you find a new favorite song or two, too!

Light the Hope candle #1 each day this week during your devotional, and try to move more slowly, breathe more, and let the scriptures or the Spirit say something very quiet to you. As for the music, I strived to expose us to a wide variety of music to make this a multisensory devotional series that helps us make new connections to scripture, songs and a variety of Advent traditions.  I deliberately did not use YouTube links to songs in order to avoid ads interrupting your devotional times.  May you grow in Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love over the next 26 days!

Theme: Hope

Readings: 

Reading 1: Isa 2:1-5 Responsorial Psalm: Ps 122:1-9 Reading 2: Rom 13:11-14 Gospel: Mt 24:37-44

Reflections:

Today's simple thought: What you hope for shapes what you live for.

What does God do to support Hope, according to these readings?
In Isaiah, God establishes his temple, exalts it above all others, teaches His people, God will judge and settle all disputes.

In Psalm 122, we see a response to all that God does. We go to worship, we praise God's name, we pray and speak peace into the world, and seek God's prosperity.

In Romans 13, we again see our response to true Hope: we put aside dark deeds, and we put on luminous armor! We behave decently, and we clothe ourselves with Christ. We stop thinking about simple, fleshly desires. In other words, Hope matures us.

Finally, in Matthew 24, Jesus directs us clearly to PREPARE. Hope guides solid preparation. Jesus directs us to keep watch (stay present and aware), remain ready for his arrival (maintain hope!). We remain hopeful and anticipate the restoration of all things. Let's meditate and pray on that hope.

Feel free to share your reflection on today's devotional, below. A gmail is required in order to comment.

Song: We Wait for You, Caroline Cobb

Bonus! My Advent 2025 playlist is ready for you to listen to on Apple Music. It's diverse, and it was so much fun to put together as I read through the scriptures and wrote this series.

NOTE: The linked songs are on Apple Music, which you can get for a month for free if you are new... I just didn't want an obnoxious YouTube Ad ruining your quiet time :-)

Feel free to share your reflection on today's devotional, below. A gmail is required in order to comment.

If you are looking for a nondenominational church in the Denver area, check out denverchurchofchrist.org