Can We Trust the Gospels?

Recent Posts


Past Posts Archived by Date


Search this site


Topics


Search this site


Syndication

« Advent Calendar for December 15 | Home | Advent Calendar for December 16 »

Advent Devotion: The Lighting of the Third Candle

By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, December 16, 2007

This is an excerpt from my Advent Devotional Guide that uses the Advent wreath. If you have a real wreath, you can use it, either alone, or with others. If you don’t have a wreath, follow this guide, and you can “light” the Advent candle for today online. (I originally wrote this guide for families at Irvine Presbyterian Church.)

We Remember the Meaning of Advent

Advent is a word that means “coming” or “visit”. In the Christian season of Advent we prepare for the “advent” of Christ at Christmas. Our preparation includes many things:

• We remember Israel’s hope for the coming of God’s Messiah to save, to forgive, and to restore them.

• We remember our hope for the second coming of Jesus.

• We remember our need for a Savior to save us from our sins.

• We prepare to welcome Christ at Christmas into our world . . . and into our hearts.

By lighting one candle each week of Advent, we help ourselves to get ready for the birth of Jesus. So far we have lit two candles. The first helped us to hope for God our Shepherd; with the second we asked God to come and forgive our sins.

Today we remember the joy of waiting — because we know how the story ends!

Prayer for God’s Help

Dear God, thank you for this season of Advent that helps us to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas. As we read the Bible and light a candle, may excitement for Christ’s coming burn in our hearts. Amen.

For the continuation of this Advent devotional, and for the “lighting” of the Advent candle, click here.

Topics: Advent |

One Response to “Advent Devotion: The Lighting of the Third Candle”

  1. Elise Says:
    December 13th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    Thank you for your Advent devotions. I use the photos of the lit candles as my desktop background and update it with the new one each week. Seeing the candles really helps keep me focused on spiritual thoughts all through the day.

Comments

Thanks for your willingness to make a comment. Note: I do not moderate comments before they are posted, though they are automatically screened for profanities, spam, etc., and sometimes the screening program holds comments for moderation even though they're not offensive. I encourage open dialogue and serious disagreement, and am always willing to learn from my mistakes. I will not delete comments unless they are extraordinarily rude or irrelevant to the topic at hand. You do need to login in order to make a comment, because this cuts down on spam. You are free to use a nickname if you wish. Finally, I will eventually read all comments, but I don't have the time to respond to them on a consistent basis because I've got a few other demands on my time, like my "day job," my family, sleep, etc.

You must be logged in to post a comment.