Advent
Summary
The traditional Advent season invites participants into four weeks of deep reflection on the advent, or arrival, of God in Jesus of Nazareth, as well as on his promised return. From focused prayer and Scripture reading, to candled wreaths and embellished calendars, Advent celebrations vary widely. But all Advent practices share a heightened anticipation for God’s arrival. More than a countdown to Christmas, Advent embraces the way of Jesus and encourages hopeful waiting, courageous peace-making, resilient joy, and self-giving love in our still-suffering world.
The Meaning and Significance of Advent
For many, “advent” means a countdown to Christmas. Whether we envision candy-filled Advent calendars or lights draped over houses with nativity scenes out front, Advent marks a happy season of celebrating.
But the word “advent” comes from the Latin adventus, which is about a “coming” or an “arrival.” The Latin translation of the New Testament uses adventus to describe God the Son arriving on Earth, born as Jesus of Nazareth during the 1st century C.E. (see Acts 7:52). Still, throughout Church history, Advent has more traditionally referred to Jesus’ future arrival, when he comes to complete his work of restoring all creation (see Matt. 24:27; 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 3:13).
The Advent season leads to the celebration of Jesus’ birth and also emphasizes his future arrival. It’s a season that includes practices like prayer, giving to those in need, and worship (plus more, depending on the tradition). And it reminds us that we’re living during the time between Jesus’ first and second advents, leading us to lament the hardships we experience in a still-broken world, while also forming us into people who wait with longing for the renewed world to come.
Celebrating Advent also means living into it by practicing a generous way of love and care for our neighbors as we partner with Jesus to bring peace on Earth.
The Four Weeks of Advent
In most Christian traditions, Advent is a four-week season of celebration and observation prior to Christmas, each week often focusing on a particular biblical theme. Although the selection and arrangement of themes can vary, these are some themes commonly explored during Advent.
Week 1: Hope
Week 2: Peace
Week 3: Joy
Week 4: Love
This guide is intended to help you meditate on each of these themes so that you might deepen your understanding of Advent and experience the season in a new way. You’ll also find an Advent calendar below with daily reflections that begin on the first Sunday of Advent.
Hope
Sometimes hope feels wishful, like crossing our fingers and dreaming of a better outcome. We might hope for better employment, healed relationships, or a brighter future. But that kind of hope is based on things that may or may not happen. When things don’t go as we hoped, it can be crushing—our hope disappearing like vapor.
As a season of reflection and contemplation, Advent invites us to imagine a different kind of hope, rooted in the unchanging nature of God and his promise to restore every part of his creation. Advent hope does not minimize pain or difficulty, nor does it assume things will soon get better. Instead, it faces the darkness with courage and chooses to trust that God’s promises will come to pass, guaranteed by his long-proven, faithful character.
In the Hebrew Bible, the words most often used for hope—qavah and yakhal—are also translated as “wait.” To hope in God means to wait with patient expectation, trusting that he will fulfill his promises. This kind of waiting leans forward, anticipating the day when Jesus will return to make all things new. Such hope empowers people to persevere, to act justly, and to serve others as a sign of the restoration that will arrive through Jesus.
Read
5 Again the Lord spoke to me further, saying,
6 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates River,
That is, the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
8 “Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will fill the expanse of your land, Immanuel.
9 “Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
Get ready, yet be shattered;
Get ready, yet be shattered.
10 “Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a proposal, but it will not stand,
For God is with us.”
11 For so the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 “It is the Lord of armies whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
14 “Then He will become a sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 “Many will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him.
Consider
When Judah’s king, Ahaz, faces the growing threat of attack from Israel’s northern kingdom, God sends the prophet Isaiah to reassure him, promising to protect Judah and urging the king to trust him (Isa. 7:1-9). But Ahaz trusts an alliance with Assyria instead, believing its strong military will bring better protection than Yahweh (see 2 Kgs. 16:1-9).
Rather than relying on the “gently flowing waters” of God’s presence (Isa. 8:6), Judah depends on the roaring river of Assyria. They will indeed get what they want, Isaiah declares. The flooding river of Assyria will wipe away their enemies, but it will also sweep into Judah. Assyria won’t completely destroy their land—the waters will come only “as far as the neck” (Isa. 8:8)—but the people will face the infamous brutality of Assyria’s warriors.
Isaiah knows what’s coming, yet he chooses to trust God. While the king is terrified, Isaiah listens to God’s voice urging him not to fear what others fear. And that voice gives him the courage to stare down the darkness with hope (Isa. 8:17).
This isn’t wishful thinking. Isaiah is patiently resisting the false security many feel when believing an empire’s military power makes them safe, and he’s refusing to let fear compel him. Isaiah says God is faithful and truly powerful; he can be trusted to ultimately save his people.
Reflect
What would it look like to patiently resist the assumption that safety comes through strength and, instead, embrace hope in God’s willingness and ability to preserve life even through darkness and death?
Read
130 Out of the depths I have cried to You, Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the sound of my pleadings.
3 If You, Lord, were to keep account of guilty deeds,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
So that You may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And I wait for His word.
6 My soul waits in hope for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning.
7 Israel, wait for the Lord;
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel
From all his guilty deeds.
Consider
When the psalmist cries out from “the depths” in Psalm 130:1, he reminds us that hope often rises from places of despair. Sometimes people suffer from the bad choices of others. But here, the poet asks for forgiveness, implying that the suffering he’s experiencing is the result of his own people’s (and perhaps his personal) bad decisions (see Ps. 130:4, 8). Rather than despairing, the psalmist remains confident in God’s merciful character, trusting God to forgive and exhibit loyal love.
The psalmist compares his hopeful waiting to watchmen stationed on the city walls during a long night, staying attentive to any sign of enemies. The watchmen eagerly anticipate the dawn, certain that night’s darkness cannot last forever. And the psalmist’s trust in God surpasses even the certainty that the sun will rise.
The watchmen base their confident expectation on history—the sun rises every morning. The psalmist similarly trusts in God based on history—the way God has always operated. God rescued and redeemed his people from brutal slavery in Egypt, crushing an oppressive empire thought to be unstoppable. And when Israel later rejected God by ignoring his instruction, God responded with forgiveness, revealing himself to be “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness” (Exod. 34:6b, BibleProject Translation).
Rooted in this knowledge, the psalmist trusts that God is willing and able to redeem his people from their failures and the resulting consequences (Ps. 130:7). And he invites all Israel to join him in patient, hopeful waiting.
Israel’s story suggests that human effort alone cannot fix the damage people have unleashed in God’s good world. We all need someone who can truly embody God’s wisdom and lead us back to life. Advent hope acknowledges human failure and need for God without shaming. Followers of Jesus embrace a way of patience with themselves and one another, a way of mercy and forgiveness, waiting upon the one who brings new light every morning and redeems us from every form of brokenness.
Reflect
God describes himself as “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness, maintaining loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin” (Ex. 34:6b-7a, BibleProject Translation). How might this understanding of God strengthen hope when you’re suffering or feeling despair?
More Relevant scripture References
Read
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Consider
The apostles Peter and Paul both know from experience that following Jesus means neither ease nor comfort. Both men suffer intensely for choosing to follow the way of Jesus, but their hope is not weakened in the face of hardship. Instead, their hope finds clarity and strength.
Suffering often confuses us and makes us hope for more control. When suffering results from a lack of resources, we might hope for better income or improved circumstances. Hope like that can be energizing, but it’s shaky. When the thing we’re hoping for doesn’t happen, that hope will soon evaporate.
This concept of “living hope” that Peter and Paul describe is grounded in Jesus’ resurrection and God’s promise to renew all things. Both apostles see their pain not as evidence that God has abandoned them but as part of the necessary process through which God is leading the whole world.
“All creation is groaning,” Paul says, so it’s not surprising that we each suffer or “groan” inwardly (Rom. 8:21-23). We should expect it. To Paul, Peter, and the other apostles, pain and suffering clarify that their greatest hope is Jesus himself.
A “living hope” makes sense only in light of Jesus’ resurrection (see 1 Pet. 1:3). Hoping to be rescued by a dead man is futile. But Peter and Paul had their own eyewitness encounters with the resurrected Jesus (John 21; Acts 9:1-9). Seeing Jesus alive sparked a lasting, powerful, living hope.
So along with Peter, Paul, and all of Jesus’ followers, we wait with patience. We yearn for everything that’s broken to be made right. But our living hope endures, reshaping us from people compelled by fear and self-interest to people compelled by love and care for others. Like Jesus’ life on Earth, our own lives become hopeful previews of the world to come, with God’s end goal already breaking into the present.
Reflect
In your own words, how would you describe the difference between hoping for something that may or may not happen and the “living hope” Peter talks about in 1 Peter 1:3-9?
Peace
We often hear that peace comes through strength. If our military is the most powerful fighting force, our enemies won’t challenge us and we’ll have peace. Taking the opposite approach, some try to “keep the peace” by avoiding conflict and ignoring problems, hoping they’ll solve themselves. Like Israel’s false prophets, they provide superficial harmony, saying, “Peace, peace!” But in reality, nobody is truly at peace (Jer. 6:14).
The kind of peace envisioned during Advent comes not through military victory or avoidance of reality but through the way of Jesus. He brings true peace by honestly addressing and working to heal the deeper sources of division, such as fear and pride, that compel people to violence. Jesus reconciles all things to himself, offering healing and restoration through love and forgiveness.
As Jesus continues his work of bringing real, lasting peace throughout the Earth, we can participate in that work by living as peacemakers. We join with Jesus by embracing his non-violent way of forgiveness, caring for our neighbors, and extending generous love toward all people.
Read
9 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
3 You will multiply the nation,
You will increase their joy;
They will rejoice in Your presence
As with the joy of harvest,
As people rejoice when they divide the spoils.
4 For You will break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
5 For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6 For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
Consider
Isaiah 9 speaks into a time of fear, instability, and political failure. When the Judean King Ahaz, a descendant of David, is threatened by enemy armies, he chooses to rely on Assyria, rather than trusting in God’s protection (see Isa. 7:1-17; 2 Kgs. 16:1-9). Ahaz seeks peace by relying on the power of an empire—a power that will ultimately be turned against him. Eventually, the Assyrian army marches not only against Judah’s enemies but also into Judah itself (see Isa. 8:6-8).
In the face of Ahaz’s failure, God promises to raise up a different kind of king, who will rule on David’s throne in righteousness and justice forever. As a “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6), this king will secure peace not through military strength but through ending violence altogether. Isaiah’s image of breaking the “rod of their oppressor” represents destroying all instruments of war, brutality, and tyranny (Isa. 9:4). And the destruction of “every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle, and cloak rolled in blood” symbolizes removing all traces of war (Isa. 9:5).
When this coming ruler halts the cycle of violence, people will respond by reshaping their weapons into agricultural tools, transforming objects used for killing into objects used for cultivating and nourishing life (see Isa. 2:4). So competition over resources will give way to kindness and generous sharing of every necessity.
Following this Prince of Peace means refusing to return violence for violence. It means becoming people who embody his reconciling presence in the world. Whenever we overturn injustice and bring healing in place of harm, we are pointing toward his Kingdom of peace.
Reflect
How is the way the promised ruler in Isaiah 9:1-7 brings peace different from King Ahaz and other earthly rulers?
Read
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: 16 for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And although you were previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Consider
The Jewish people waited centuries for God to send the Prince of Peace he had promised (see Isa. 9:6-7). Many expected this ruler to ascend the throne and establish peace by violently overthrowing Israel’s oppressors. So when Jesus of Nazareth comes as the true King of Israel, the way he fulfills this promise to bring peace shocks everyone.
Rather than challenging Roman overlords with a violent revolt, Jesus surrenders and appears to be defeated. He allows the religious leaders to hand him over to the Roman authorities, and they kill him on a cross. But Jesus has God’s own life, which cannot be conquered by corruption or death.
So Jesus’ surrender is not in vain. He’s compelled by love to sacrifice himself so that we might be rescued from “the domain of darkness” (Col. 1:13)—the grip of sin that leads to conflict and death. And through this, he reconciles us to God.
As we hold onto hope in Jesus and his way of life, we enter into his Kingdom, where justice and peace reign.
Reflect
Why are Jesus’ non-violent peacemaking methods so surprising both to people of his day and to us today?
Read
11 Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; 16 and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
4 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Consider
God chooses Abraham’s family (later called “Israel”) to become a blessing to all the “families” or nations on Earth (Gen. 12:2-3). They’ll bless others by following God’s “instruction” (Hebrew: torah), which is intended to bring social harmony and justice. As they model God’s life-giving ways, they’ll invite others to follow them too, fostering lasting peace.
But along the way, Israel misuses God’s torah to rank Israelites as more important than non-Israelites, or Gentiles. The very torah intended to bring people together is used to exclude and diminish non-Israelites, marking who is in and who is out.
Since Gentiles don’t follow God’s instructions to circumcise their sons (see Gen. 17:9-14), they’re given a derogatory label, “the uncircumcision” (Eph. 2:11). This creates division among Jesus’ followers, marking Gentiles as hostile foreigners and strangers (Eph. 2:14-16, 19).
But Jesus lives according to torah as God intended, taking up Abraham’s calling to become a blessing to everyone on Earth. He joins both the circumcised and uncircumcised together into one unified, interdependent body, where each part works together (see 1 Cor. 12).
And bringing Jews and Gentiles together is just one expression of a larger reality. On the cross, Jesus breaks down all barriers that divide his followers. Things like ethnic background, gender, and socioeconomic situation don’t have any bearing on people’s status within the community and shouldn’t be used to break people into factions (see Gal. 3:28).
Ongoing hostilities within the Church make no sense because Jesus has already destroyed them on the cross (Eph. 2:14-16). The tendency to create divisions stems from a debunked system that values some human beings more than others. Because of what Jesus has done, we are all equally loved and valued in the family of God. So Ephesians 4:1-6 calls God’s people to live out the reality that Jesus has already accomplished. God’s people are one body, so they are to live as one body. By loving one another humbly, gently, and patiently, they will embody a true and lasting peace and fulfill their calling to bless the world.
Reflect
Where do you find it most challenging to live peacefully with others? How might God be inviting you to approach those situations?
Joy
We often think about joy as an experience of happiness based on favorable circumstances: a stroke of good luck, a personal achievement, or a long-held desire finally being satisfied. But when joy depends on circumstances, it fades fast when the good times end.
Advent joy is not about general happiness stemming from good times. It’s a deep sense of safety and freedom people feel because of God’s loving character, which remains constant through all circumstances, and because God can be trusted to ultimately bless and heal creation as he promised. Similar to the joy a friend’s presence brings on good days and bad, we experience joy as God walks with us through the fluctuations of life’s positive and painful circumstances.
In the Bible, people express joy both when God delivers them from situations of oppression and while still in the middle of exile, persecution, and pain. As people remember God’s loving, rescuing actions throughout history, they wait in joyful hope for him to act in the future, even when that waiting requires patient suffering.
This kind of joy is about being united with the God who walks with us and trusting that he will one day wipe away every tear. It looks to the future but also takes root in our present reality. The season of Advent invites us to experience joy not because everything is perfect but because God is with us and his joy is already breaking into the world.
Read
43 And He led out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with a joyful shout.
51 “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness,
Who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut,
And to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 “Look to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he was only one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her ruins.
And He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the sound of a melody.
4 “Pay attention to Me, My people,
And listen to Me, My nation;
For a law will go out from Me,
And I will bring My justice as a light of the peoples.
5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait for Me,
And they will wait expectantly for My arm.
6 “Raise your eyes to the sky,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the sky will vanish like smoke,
And the earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die in the same way.
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not fail.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
A people in whose heart is My Law;
Do not fear the taunting of people,
Nor be terrified of their abuses.
8 “For the moth will eat them like a garment;
Yes, the moth will eat them like wool.
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation to all generations.”
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord;
Awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago.
Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces,
Who pierced the dragon?
10 Was it not You who dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the redeemed to cross over?
11 And the redeemed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with joyful shouting,
And everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Consider
Some of the most vivid expressions of joy in the Bible are responses to God’s powerful acts of deliverance. Psalm 105 celebrates how the Israelites went out “with joy” at the exodus, when God rescued them from slavery in Egypt (Ps. 105:43). Their joy flowed from the realization that God saw and heard their suffering (see Exod. 2:23-25), the overwhelming relief of being set free from oppression, and the gift of God’s guidance toward a new home.
When Israel later ends up oppressed in Babylonian exile, the prophets look ahead to a second exodus. Isaiah 51:1-11 imagines Zion (another name for Jerusalem) as once desolate but now bursting with life and song, transformed from a wasteland into a joyful garden. Just as God earlier parted the Red Sea to make a path through chaotic waters and free his people from enslavement (see Exod. 14), now he will make a new path for their return to the promised land. As they come home rejoicing, “sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isa. 51:11).
During Advent, people often spend time reflecting on the joy sparked by God’s powerful acts of deliverance in the past, which can lead to joyfully anticipating how God will act again in the future.
Reflect
How might God’s past faithfulness help us walk in joy today, even as the journey introduces suffering and takes longer than we’d prefer?
Read
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.”
9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 This I command you, that you love one another.
Consider
On the day of Jesus’ advent, an angel announces to a group of shepherds that God’s promised king is arriving in Bethlehem. This message is “good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). For centuries, Israel languished under foreign empires, longing for the arrival of God’s promised king who would bring lasting justice, peace, and healing (see Isa. 9:6-7, 11:1-9). But when the angel joyfully proclaims that this king has finally come, the people are not expecting this kind of arrival—or this kind of king.
Jesus does not overthrow human enemies or establish a dominant throne in Jerusalem. Instead, he challenges the root cause of his people’s suffering by fighting their true enemies—sin and death. These are the powerful forces of corruption that not only fuel Rome’s oppression but also enslave all humanity and compel every form of evil. By defeating these enemies, Jesus invites us into a new way of life in his Kingdom of humility, generosity, and love.
Jesus explains that by living according to his instruction, people receive his own joy, which eventually becomes “full” or “complete” (Greek: pleroo, John 15:11). And the most fundamental way to follow his instruction, he says, is to “love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Jesus is not inviting people to embrace generally warm affections toward others. He wants them to love others as he has loved them. Real joy is rooted in the self-giving love of Jesus.
Reflect
Consider the claim that true joy is found in self-giving love and following the way of Jesus. How does this relate to popular assumptions about joy today?
Read
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
6 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— 2 for He says,
“At a favorable time I listened to you,
And on a day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is “a favorable time,” behold, now is “a day of salvation”— 3 giving no reason for taking offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, 4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in difficulties, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in mob attacks, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, 6 in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, 7 in the word of truth, and in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, 8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; 9 as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet behold, we are alive; as punished and yet not put to death, 10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
Consider
In Jesus’ most well-known teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, he surprisingly calls people to “rejoice and be glad” when they’re persecuted for following him (Matt. 5:11-12). He’s not suggesting they should suppress their pain or pretend suffering doesn’t matter. Instead, he’s offering an invitation to see hardship through a radically different lens, one that regards suffering as worth it when you’re suffering for doing what’s right.
To suffer for doing good is to join a long line of people who have walked Jesus’ path. The Apostle Paul and his associates face public beatings, hunger, and exhaustion for sharing the good news about Jesus, and Paul says they are “sorrowful yet always rejoicing” throughout their trials (2 Cor. 6:10). His words are a testimony to a joy that runs deeper than pain as it joins God’s good work of restoring the world.
This is the paradox of Advent joy. It does not ignore or minimize sorrow but transforms the way we experience it. Because we are united with the living Jesus, who has promised to return to complete his work of restoration, we can experience a joy that perseveres and enlivens us, even through the darkest circumstances. In Jesus, we find a joy that can coexist with grief and even grow stronger in its midst.
Reflect
Where in your life are joy and sorrow intermingled? How might God be forming deeper joy in you, not in spite of suffering but through it?
Love
Love is often seen as a force beyond our control, something people fall in or out of. Or it may seem like something satisfying that we can achieve, driving us to chase affection through relationships or status. “Love is all you need,” they say, because it’s the path to self-fulfillment.
But something is missing from that picture of love. The Bible invites us to see a kind of love that’s neither accidental nor driven by desire for self-fulfillment. Instead, it involves a steady commitment to care for the well-being of others—never self-seeking, always self-giving—even when it costs us.
Jesus shows this kind of love when he gives his life for friends and enemies alike. Dying on a cross, with his killers still laughing at him, Jesus cares for their well-being as he prays for their forgiveness (Luke 23:34). Living with this kind of love does not mean ignoring our own needs or devaluing ourselves. After all, Jesus says to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). But it means choosing to see all people as living miracles of God, each made in God’s image and deeply loved by him.
The Advent season leads us to reflect on the future God is bringing, where every interaction will be shaped and compelled by love. Even more, it invites us to live into that coming world right now by loving others the way Jesus does. As we give of ourselves in order to care for both friends and enemies, we demonstrate the love that Jesus shows to all people.
Read
5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
28 One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel ! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who are abusive to you. 29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic from him either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. 31 Treat people the same way you want them to treat you. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Consider
When a religious law expert quizzes Jesus about God’s most important commandment, Jesus references two Hebrew Bible texts: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart” (see Deut. 6:5) and “love your neighbor as yourself” (see Lev. 19:18). To Jesus, these instructions belong together because loving God is, at the same time, loving others. To love God but not people is impossible because God creates every human being in his own image (Gen. 1:26-27).
Jesus challenges his followers to go beyond loving only their families or the people they’re most comfortable around. He teaches an impartial love, one that chooses to love both friend and enemy, seeing them first as humans made in God’s image, his beloved creations.
In Jesus’ time, this command includes loving the largely despised Roman military forces, who are occupying and dominating the Jewish people’s land. And he even gives examples of how to show them love. When a soldier slaps you, respond with assertive non-violence by offering your other cheek (Luke 6:29; also Matt. 5:39). When a soldier lawfully demands something from you, give generously more than he demands (Matt. 5:41), always choosing mercy over retaliation.
These may seem like passive acts of surrender, but they are actually forms of active resistance. Instead of mirroring or escalating harm, these responses creatively offer a better way forward, patiently inviting our enemies into a different kind of relationship. Jesus calls his followers to live in a way that trusts love to disrupt injustice, disarm hostility, and reflect the character of God.
This kind of love isn’t easy, but it has the power to overcome evil and heal the harm it causes. God’s Kingdom shows itself in the world not through force or domination but through courageous acts of love.
Reflect
What might it look like to love someone in your life the way Jesus describes here?
Read
7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.
Consider
In one of the most powerful reflections on love in the Bible, the Apostle John writes, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is the way God chooses to act, yes, but it runs deeper: Love is his very essence. So if we truly know who God is, that knowledge will show up in the tangible ways we love others.
We show our love for God by loving the people who are made in his image (1 John 4:20; see Gen. 1:26-27). Love for God and love for neighbor are inseparably bound together as one way of thinking, feeling, and acting (see Mark 12:28-31). We see this way of living most clearly in Jesus.
Jesus’ love is active, costly, and directed toward healing the broken, forgiving the sinful, and restoring peace to the battle-worn and exhausted. God the Son enters humankind in Jesus, not because God pities us or because we finally did enough good to deserve his help. Instead, God lowers himself, taking on flesh and human suffering—including death—because God is love. Love moves toward the good of the other. And Jesus moves into our world, into our neighborhood, for our good.
This kind of love cannot be manufactured. We develop Jesus-style love when we choose to abide in God’s love and be shaped and transformed by it. Living in the way of Jesus opens our eyes to see others the way God sees them. And when we see people through the eyes of love, that love shines through us in practical, helpful ways.
Advent reminds us that love itself is God’s essential nature and should permeate his creation. As we choose to embrace God’s way of love, we begin to reflect it throughout the world.
Reflect
How have you experienced God’s love through other people? What’s one way you can reflect God’s love to someone this week?
Read
13 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part and prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Consider
At weddings or other occasions where love is in the air, you might hear words from 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul’s most famous writing about love. “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant” (1 Cor. 13:4). But 1 Corinthians 13 does not focus on what we call “romantic” love; instead, it describes a love that holds communities together when deep divisions threaten to tear them apart.
Paul is writing to a Corinthian community that has fractured, with high-status people receiving privileges denied to others. Some members are elevating themselves by boasting about their spiritual gifts—that is, Spirit-empowered abilities like spontaneously communicating in foreign languages or speaking the words of God to people—while others are being excluded or branded as lesser.
Paul reminds everyone that spiritual gifts are for the benefit of others, not for boosting personal status. Although they are powerful, they mean nothing if they aren’t compelled by love, a love that “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Cor. 13:7, NIV).
For Paul, love is the rugged commitment to relate rightly with people and seek their good. It bears with others’ shortcomings and refuses to dominate or keep score.
Advent reminds us that this kind of love is grounded in the hope that God is working to renew all things and will one day fully establish his Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. As we practice this way of love, friends, neighbors, and even enemies can glimpse that future reality.
In the end, it’s not prowess, power, or performance that will last. It’s love.
Reflect
Of the many aspects of love described in 1 Corinthians 13, which encourages or inspires you the most, and which seems most difficult to put into practice?
Embracing the Season: Modern Advent Traditions
Christians around the world participate in different Advent customs. A couple of the most widely followed traditions involve Advent wreaths and Advent calendars.
Advent Wreath
The Advent wreath’s circular shape symbolizes God’s unending life (Ps. 90:2; Ps. 102:24-27). Lying flat, it supports four colorful (usually pink or purple) candles, each representing one of four focused Advent themes, such as hope, peace, joy, or love.
Participants (churches, families, or individuals) traditionally dedicate time each Sunday during Advent to meditate on that week’s theme while also lighting candles. On the first week, they light one candle. On the second, they light two. And this continues until all four weeks have passed.
Then, on Christmas Eve, they light a fifth candle at the wreath’s center. Often white in color and sometimes called the “Christ candle,” its flame symbolizes God’s light entering our dark world through the birth of Jesus (see John 1:5-9; John 8:12).
BibleProject Daily Advent Calendar
Many people use festive calendars to encourage reflection on each day of Advent. Some provide small candies or toys as gifts each day, reminding people about the great gifts of God we receive through Jesus. Advent calendars also provide a fun way to count down to Christmas, building anticipation with each day checked or each small gift opened.
The calendar below is designed to encourage deeper meditation on the themes of Advent, helping you engage the season in a fuller way. It begins on the first Sunday of Advent, and each day offers one or two verses from Scripture to consider, along with an accompanying question to help spark reflection.
Download the Advent Calendar PDF here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the common questions people ask about Advent.
Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth, while Advent is a season of reflection and anticipation observed during the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “arrival.” In the Latin translation of the New Testament, it refers both to the arrival of God in Jesus that happened during the first century C.E. (see Acts 7:52) and to a future arrival of Jesus promised in Scripture (see Matt. 24:27).
Jesus’ first arrival, or advent, marked the fulfillment of prophetic promises about a king who would rule in justice and peace forever. As that promised ruler, Jesus began to establish God’s Kingdom on Earth by healing the sick, freeing the oppressed, and teaching people to live lives of love and generosity. But we still live in a world plagued by injustice and violence; the Kingdom of God has not yet fully come. So the Advent season highlights this dual truth: The world remains broken, but Jesus is working to restore it and will one day come again to finish that work.
Some churches maintain a clear separation between Advent and Christmas, waiting until Advent ends on Christmas Eve to put up Christmas trees and nativity sets and sing carols about Jesus’ birth. In other churches, anticipating Christmas is a key part of the Advent season. Either way, Advent invites us to wait with expectant hope, echoing the ancient cry: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”—God with us.
Advent typically begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and concludes on Christmas Eve. So in 2025, Advent starts on Sunday, November 30th and ends on Wednesday, December 24th.
But some Christian traditions celebrate a seven-week season of Advent, and Eastern Orthodox churches instead observe a 40-day Nativity Fast.
More Resources
Videos
- Yakhal / Hope (Watch)(Download)
- Shalom / Peace (Watch)(Download)
- Chara / Joy (Watch)(Download)
- Agape / Love (Watch)(Download)
Other Resources from BibleProject
- Advent Podcast Series - Starting December 1
- Advent 2025 Calendar (Download)
- Advent Video Discussion Guides (Download)
Book Recommendations From Our Scholarship Team
- On the Incarnation by Athanasius
- Watch For The Light: Readings For Advent And Christmas by a collection of writers
- Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
- Advent for Everyone: A Journey through Luke by N.T. Wright