An introduction to our 2018 Advent Contemplations (script below):
Welcome to the Blue Ocean Advent devotional podcast. I’m Emily, and I’ll be your guide these next four weeks. This first podcast is simply an overview of what you can expect.
Each podcast will last approximately five minutes, though you can pause at various points if you’d like to spend more time praying or meditating on a particular portion.
The format will go something like this:
- We’ll start with a moment of gratitude, where we can name something we’re thankful for each day.
- Then we’ll move into a time of petition, where we will have an opportunity to pray for something or someone specific each day. This portion will be more specifically guided.
- Next I’ll read the daily Scripture portion, perhaps with some commentary depending on the reading.
- Then we’ll close with a short guided meditation on various Scriptures that tie into the four themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love.
The word itself, Advent, comes comes from the Latin word, adventus, meaning “coming” or “visit.” So, during Advent, we recognize and anticipate several things:
- We anticipate the visitation of Jesus—his birth celebrated on Christmas—remembering the long history of yearning for a messiah that continues to this day.
- We recognize our own longing for, and need of, forgiveness.
- And, even as we look back with anticipation in celebration of the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem, we also look forward—longing for a second coming as the fulfillment of all that was promised by Jesus’s first visitation.
The Blue Ocean sermon theme for Advent this year is “waiting.” We’ll focus each week on how we wait—waiting with hope, waiting with peace, waiting with joy, and waiting with love.
My prayer is that you’ll find this relevant and helpful as we find ourselves shaped each year by this practice of waiting for hope and light in times when life feels dark and hopeless. Come, Lord Jesus.