Silent Night, Holy Night

Advent encouragement and some free downloads because we got you!

Dec 07, 2024

We hope you read this and are encouraged…but also that you read this to the end, where the free Christmas downloads are! ;)

I have waited for many things.

I remember waiting to be old enough to drive, to vote, to live on my own. I have waited for classes to get out, discordant notes to resolve, an item to go on sale, a conflict to be restored. I have waited on God for immeasurably harder things, too: reconciliation, financial provision, motherhood, comfort in anxiety, answers in a time of confusion. I have known His silence as I longed for His answers.

If you have walked with God for any length of time, you too have experienced what it means to wait on Him - to long for Him - to receive from Him. It can be hard to know the rest of God, when we are filled with wanting. And yet in the very wait that taxes us, our Heavenly Father invites us to know His gentle yoke, His tender heart, and His rest for our weary souls.

Every year as I anticipate the Christmas season, I'm always sort of anxious that I'll "arrive" at Bethlehem's manger having run myself ragged with busyness, too weary to see the hope in the manger. As I consider my own road to Christmas over the years, I am inevitably drawn to the long, dark wait that the people of God experienced as they hoped for the advent of the Messiah. I recall the ancient prophecies that “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light” and the proclamation that “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. [Isaiah 9:2]

I recall that His people wondered and waited —some wandering away— for hundreds of years before heaven came down. I have wondered if I myself might have lost faith in the promised King’s arrival, after years and years of silence.

The Church’s celebration of advent dates back to the fourth century. The Latin word adventus is a translation of the Greek word parousia, which is used to indicate both the coming of Jesus in human flesh and His second coming. It stands to reason that advent is a celebration designed to remind us of both. Traditionally, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas are honored through scripture reading, candle lighting, and liturgical readings. Throughout the season, we turn our eyes from tinsel and shopping and sparkly gatherings to the quiet, holy wait and longing for Jesus.

Advent slows us down on the way to Christmas, so that we experience the longing and the hope for the coming Messiah, the desire to experience rest with Emmanuel - God with us. The season of Advent is meant to restore a sense of purpose and hope in the longing, because…

We do not wander and wait and wonder as the Israelites did, for "we have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

Our hope and prayer is as you slow down and take intentional time to be with God in this advent season, He will stir in your heart a holy longing for the return of the Good and Only King.

So glad so many of you joined us for the Grace Women Christmas Gathering!

If you didn’t get to join us this time we gathered, we’ve got some goodies for you!

Click here to download the Christmas art prints we offered (y’all blew us away — we can’t believe we under-ordered)!

Click below to listen to the “Tidings of Comfort & Joy” message.

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(You can also visit this Google drive link for the audio file, if this platform is tricky for you.)

Click here to revisit our Advent podcast series from last year.

OKAY, LAST THING, WE PROMISE:

Mark your calendars and come hang out Friday night and Saturday morning for our spring workshop! We’re excited to be building a series of interactive sessions around a whole-hearted approach to health and wellness: spiritual health, physical and mental health, and relationship health. You’ll be the first to know the full scoop when our registration is live next year!