2025 Advent Devotional: An Invitation to Reflect

Friends,

Christmas shows up every year—yes, every single year—and somehow it still manages to catch us off guard. After what feels like only a few short months, we find ourselves preparing again to hear the ancient story of Christ’s birth. We need this story. We rely on it to speak hope, peace, love, and joy into a world—and into our own lives—that feel stretched thin.

As we move through Advent, the questions rise naturally: How does the birth of one small baby—this particular Baby—speak to us now? What does an incarnational faith, a God in flesh and bone, ask of us? How might the message carried by this Infant Savior take shape in our daily living?

These are the questions of Christmas.

If we trust that our questions matter—that they shape us and stretch us—then this season asks us to sit with them, honestly, in God’s presence.

This devotional is an invitation to do just that. (We’re grateful to Melanie Woodard, Jenny Bradley, and Alice Blalock for shaping this year’s devotional with care and creativity.) Each day, Monday through Saturday, you’ll receive an email offering a short reflection, an image, and a question to carry with you.

Light a candle—a simple reminder that God-with-us still shines. Hold in mind the sacred people in your life. Take your time with the images and words. At the bottom of each page you’ll find a question and space for whatever rises—thoughts, resistance, clarity, surprise.

Don’t rush it. The season will try to push you along faster than you need to go.

Instead: rest, breathe, reflect. Make room for sacred knowing.

Make room for Sacred Love.