In a Weary World
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JOYEMMANUEL FATHER GRACE SON TRUST LOVE BIRTH GOD HOPE KING CROSS Rediscovering REDEEMER JEHOVAH SON HOPE PEACE JESUS GRACE LOVE TRUST GOD TRUTH LIVING SPIRIT LIGHT BIRTH PRAY SON ANNOINTED KING GRACE MESSIAH KING SAVIOR FATHER BLESSING FAITH PEACE TRUST KING PROMISES CROSS PEACE ALIVE JESUS In A TEACHER GOD FATHER SON MESSIAH PRAY LOVE Weary BIRTH LIGHT Kelly PRAY Sunman-Davis World LOVE Fenton First Presbyterian Church 2020 Advent Devotional TABLE OF CONTENTS Scroll down OR click a title, date, or name to navigate to a specific devotion. Introduction.........................................................................................Pastor Robbie Carnes Introduction: First Week of Advent November 29......................................................................................Pastor Lindsey Carnes November 30...................................................................................................Peggy Fowler December 1..............................................................................................Rita Vadasz (2018) December 2.................................................................................................Peg Allen (2011) December 3.................................................................................Bruce Nieuwenhuis (2011) December 4................................................................................................David Eschleman December 5........................................................................................................Hannah Hall Introduction: Second Week of Advent December 6.......................................................................................................... Bev Welch December 7.........................................................................................................Fran Moore December 8...................................................................................................... James Foster December 9........................................................................................................... Jan Foster December 10............................................................................................Bob Nelson (2015) December 11..........................................................................................Roger Terrill (2013) December 12.......................................................................................................Nikki Black Introduction: Third Week of Advent December 13..........................................................................................................Bill Black December 14....................................................................................Larry McMellen (2011) December 15..........................................................................................Linda Banks (2016) December 16..........................................................................................Bobby Clark (2015) December 17....................................................................................................Mary Zimbler December 18.................................................................................................. Larry Zimbler December 19...............................................................................................Donna Anderson Introduction: Fourth Week of Advent December 20........................................................................................................Janet Stork December 21........................................................................................Mable Render (2010) December 22...........................................................................................Jackie Arrol (2016) December 23 ....................................................................................Rev. Lloyd Hall (2011) December 24 .......................................................................................Pastor Robbie Carnes Christmas Day Acknowledgements Advent Calendar Introduction Pastor Robbie Carnes A Season of Hope & Expectation Advent Hope Peace Joy Love Christ The year 2020 has been one that none of us will ever forget. Our economy and culture was crippled by restrictions from the COVID pandemic. Our conscience was seared by multiple unjust killings of young black people, nationwide protesting of racial injustice, and despicable rioting by those taking selfish advantage of political and civic strife. Our hearts were broken by a turbulent political process, a cancel culture of punitive moralism and an isolation imposed by a disease that we still don’t know enough about. We all have lost friends and family to COVID, to political lines in the sand, and to desperate attempts to keep each other safe and healthy. We cannot hope to trudge into Advent in 2020, shake it off and begin fresh and new in 2021. Our wounds are too great; the future is too foggy. How are we to recover our sense of Joy? First, we get honest about the present. Call it like it is. Maybe you need to use some cre- ative verbiage, maybe you need to scream what you feel at the wall. Be real about this past year. There is no good hiding it before God. He was there, He knows. Secondly, we remember how God has been good in the past. Our faith is packed full of God’s faithfulness to us. So let us remember. This year’s devotional is special in that we have chosen to use entrees of past year’s Advent Devotionals. Many of these people have since passed, yet all of them represent God’s goodness and faithfulness. Lastly, let us trust that God has our future. God has proven faithful in the past. Why should He not be faithful in the future? Has there been anything that has happened that God could not turn into good for us, those who love Him, and for the world? If the promise of the Christ Child means anything, it means hope. God’s got this. Let us endure for the sake of the joy set before us. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1st Week of Advent Hope Sunday, November 29 Pastor Lindsey Carnes Isaiah 64:1-9 ; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 Even as an adult, I love attending the Christmas Eve worship service with the living na- tivity, getting new Christmas pj's and an ornament on Christmas Eve, and waking up on Christmas morning to see what little goodies are in my stocking. But, I'll never forget my first Christmas without the nativity, new pj's, my own ornament, and stocking. During college, I spent a semester abroad in London, and spent the Christmas holiday with friends of my grandparents. They invited me to spend the holiday with their family with their own traditions. They ate different foods, put out their shoes instead of stockings, and they had a small gathering with just the mom, dad and kids. It didn't feel like Christmas I was used to, because it didn't feel like the kind of celebration that I was used to having. Af- ter a few days of visiting, I was ready to leave and hoped that New Year's would be better. I had trouble experiencing the joy of the Christmas celebrations because I wanted what I was used to having. I didn't have huge expectations for New Year's Eve, a few days lat- er. My family in California doesn't stay up late on New Years Eve; they watch the ball drop 3 hours early with everyone on the East Coast. On New Year's Day, they cook up a pot of Southern black- eyed peas with bacon. My friend and I got settled into the student hostel and met some outgoing Brazilians who invited us to spend New Year's Eve with them. Despite the record cold, we joined thousands of people walking down the Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe and ushered in the New Year with shouts of joy, hugs and kisses, and of course champagne. The year that I accepted Christ into my life changed the way that I celebrated Christmas and brought so much more meaning and significance to the holiday. Similarly, my Christ- mas in London and New Year's in Paris deepened my appreciation for what was and for what it could be. I didn't know that New Year's could be so wonderful, and I wouldn't have known it could be something different if I hadn't experienced a Christmas that was so different from what I had known. This year will be different from previous years, but Christmas is not cancelled. I have resolved to enjoy both the familiar moments and to be receptive to the new ones. TABLE OF CONTENTS Monday, November 30 Peggy Fowler Psalm 79; Micah 4:1-5, Revelation 15:1-8 Hope - 1 Peter 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheri- tance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you who are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Peter wrote these MIGHTY and POW- ERFUL words in those difficult times for the new believers and they still apply today in these difficult times. WOW! A LIVING HOPE! Jesus is with us...God came to us in Jesus through his birth, then God was Jesus living among the people of his time, and now he lives with us still and in this time and age. He is with us when we need him so much. We need to kneel down in prayer, awe and reverence. We need to talk with him, pray with him, be still and listen. Tune out the old world and be with our Brother, Shepherd, and God the Father. TABLE OF CONTENTS Tuesday, December 1 Rita Vadasz (2018) Psalm 79; Micah 4:6-13; Revelation 18:1-10 I want to share this poem written by my