Advent Devotionals

I've been enjoying the first few days of the Advent Devotionals that are available in the Narthex -- the 2010 edition of Partners in Prayer (from Chalice Press) and the latest from Mountaintop Prayerscape (from the West Virginia region). I hope you've taken the opportunity to pick up copies or to follow Mountaintop Prayerscape online.

Devotionals are a wonderful tool, especially for busy people. For each day, there is a short Bible passage to read, followed by a thoughtful essay, then ending with a brief prayer. It's food for the soul.

These are both excellent devotionals. Many of you have met some of the pastors from West Virginia who contribute devotions. If not, you can treat yourself to the wonderful diversity of gifts and styles of Disciples pastors around West Virginia. This year, in an attempt to enhance the diversity and not ask for multiple devotions of everyone, David Chafin, the Deputry Regional Minister who puts the Mountaintop Prayerscape together, has used other material for some days. On Monday, in place of a reflection, was a modern translation of a beautiful Advent hymn, the Laurentius Laurenti.

Also, I find the Chalice Press devotional especially appealing this year because it is written by a Disciple who is younger than I am -- and people my age and younger are rarely asked to write seasonal devotionals. Bonnie Carenen, who I met while she also was a theological student in Chicago, has a vibrant perspective on the season and on the church. And her devotions, thus far, have been inviting and life-giving.

I hope you take the opportunity to read one or both of these devotionals this Advent season. And I hope you find the practice so helpful that you begin to read devotionals each day to help encourage and guide you along your spiritual journey.