These brief meditations incorporate the hope, celebration, love, compassion, and blessing of the Christmas season and encourage us to find them throughout the year. Features include the poem, "The Work of Christmas,": "When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone... The Work of Christmas begins... "; and "I Will Light Candles This Christmas,": "Candles of joy, despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair keeps watch....

How does Santa get to so many houses in a night? He uses his flying reindeer and Santa sleigh, of course. We all know this. What happens when a man with a Santa suit in East Texas wants to maximize his time and energy and see as many people as he can in the days leading up to Christmas? Of course, he can't use the sleigh and reindeer because they have to rest up for the big night. So, in true Texas fashion, he found a horse to ride. These are the...

Advent is celebrated differently throughout the world. Some cultures barely observe the waiting and focus on the Christmas celebration. Others feel deeply the contrast between present circumstances and God's promise of a better future, making for a season of fasting and prayer. All of them focus on Christ as the Light of the world. Light from Afar is a daily Advent devotional that illuminates the season through the unforgettable stories and reflections...

The world is slowly emerging from the worst global emergency in a century, and the myriad struggles of the contemporary moment-division, isolation, illness, and uncertainty-make living our faith a challenge. For Christians, a number of questions have gained new urgency: Where do we find hope when it seems in such short supply? Where are the signs of God's peace in this divided world? Where do we find a deeper sense of joy? Thomas G. Long and Donyelle...

At Christmas, God came into our ordinary world in the form of a child, and still today, God is at work through the ordinary stuff of life, if we train our eyes to see. In this daily devotional for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Jill J. Duffield draws readers' attention to ten ordinary objects that appear in the biblical narratives of messianic prophesy and incarnation-objects we encounter in our own lives. Through objects such as gates, trees,...

For those who are looking for something honest, something real, something with a little more human grit to it and a little less conventional red and green: Honest Advent offers a new kind of devotional. For too many of us, Christmas has lost its wonder. Maybe for you, the joy of the season is painfully dissonant with the hard edges of life right now. Or, maybe you feel wearied by the way Christmas has become a polished, predictable brand. Or, maybe...

"The struggles and joys of Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna should connect with what most readers experience at Christmas and perhaps, every day"-- "Three very wise women lie at the heart of the First Christmas events: Mary (Jesus' blessed mother), Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist), and Anna the Prophetess (who waited her whole adult life in the temple, expecting to see the Messiah). In this devotional, covering Advent to Epiphany, each daily devotional...