from Comfort and Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2025)
May we grasp impossibly the breadth of
God’s Love
May we be transformed miraculously in the height of
God’s Love
May we overflow abundantly filled with the depth of
God’s Love
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2025)
In Matthew 1, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream. Most likely Joseph did not have access to written scriptures. He wasn’t part of a culture where the wonders of dreaming were explained through psychology. God used an avenue to communicate that Joseph left open, a dream, to send him a message. This is amazing, since on his own Joseph would have done the kind and culturally appropriate thing of “dismissing Mary quietly” (Matthew 1:19). Instead, God pursued Joseph through a dream to bring about God’s loving plan to save God’s people. By God’s loving grace, Joseph was not left alone to discern the correct path before him.
God still pursues us today. Maybe not with dreams . . . or maybe so. But God’s love does search for us and find us, inviting us to participate in bringing God’s plan into the world. Our job is to listen with the door of our heart open, be willing to wait, and trust that God will come with grace and be with us. Knowing that God—in an effort to share love with us—seeks us has brought a sense of peace to my spiritual journey. We, like Joseph, are invited to accept God’s gracious gift of love and the peace it can bring this Advent season.
God, thank you for seeking and pursuing us with your love. May we accept the grace and peace you extend to each of us. Amen.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
In an Advent sermon on hope, the preacher began with examples of things we wait for: a baby to be born, test results, voting outcomes, the storm to pass. I leaned forward in the pew, reaching for my bag. In the bottom, I found a crumpled receipt and uncapped pen. Using the back of the hymnal as a makeshift lap desk, I scratched out my grumble of a response.
What about the things we wait for with no guaranteed resolution, change, or outcome? Not everything we wait for comes to be. How do we wait for the unknown?
The experiences and questions that bring people before God are less often those of hope and joy and more often because of loss and desperation. The gap between what we profess and preach and what we need spiritually is often wide. As a result, the holiday season can be a particularly tender time when our experience is out of sync with the good tidings and great joy of the Christmas message.
While Advent is for all of us, it is particularly for those who have questions, for those with need, and for those sitting in darkness. Advent is a time when we offer our experiences before God. We remember and celebrate God’s faithful action in the past as we await the arrival of the light and anticipate transformation in our own situations and circumstances.
Whether you are grieving or waiting for something with little hope of resolution, no guarantee of healing, or assurance of what is to come, Advent is the season for you. For out of chaos God creates, and into darkness the light shines. It is in the silence that the Word arrives, and out of death that resurrection comes. Thanks be to God.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2024)
Children bring a special wonder and delight to Christmas endeavors, especially to creative projects. There’s plenty we can learn from their carefree, experiential attitudes.
When my now-grown son was a preschooler, I dreaded going into any store with TVs, computers, or any appliance with buttons. He wanted to touch every button. “Mom,” he explained, “You don’t understand. That’s what buttons are for—pushing!” He experienced joy by pushing all the buttons regardless of the outcome. For him, joy was about the process.
Acknowledging that joy has restorative work in our lives look for ways to foster this in yourself and others. Part of welcoming joy into our lives involves releasing control and worry about others’ perceptions of us. Children do this so well because they haven’t yet learned all of the social rules and constraints that inhibit us adults. Remaining open to joyful surprise is a worthwhile spiritual discipline, no matter what your holiday surroundings might be.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
Despite the doctors’ earlier estimates, we now knew this would be our final holiday season together. After one last Christmas morning on the farm, we would move my mother-in-law into a facility where she could receive round-the-clock care as her body slowly shut down.
The cursor blinked on the blank page of my computer screen as Sunday morning drew nearer. What words of hope and peace could I offer when my world didn’t feel merry and bright?
The liturgical calendar reminds us that as Christians we do not live on the world’s time. The church has its own rhythms and rituals to nurture our souls along the discipleship journey and through the worship life of the community of God’s people.
So, I stood before my congregation on the first Sunday of Advent that year and said:
This morning, we light the first Advent candle, in anticipation of God’s justice breaking in. God longs to free us from all that holds us captive to fear, confusion, and even despair. We light this candle as a reminder to take heart. God is coming to make things right.
The heart of Advent is an invitation to renew our commitments to the spiritual practices that form and inform our faith. It is the season for those of us who are weary, for those burdened by grief and loss as we are invited to make space in our hearts and minds to receive anew the many gifts of incarnation.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy. You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2024)
Breathe deeply of the precipitous air
Unfurl your shoulders turn your face toward the rising sun
Allow the crisp morning air to fill your lungs
Savor the quiet moment
Gather what you need to face the new day
-by Sherah-Leigh Gerber
Consider an Advent devotional as a gentle companion through the month of December.
You may want to check out Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent, a nontraditional devotional that includes recipes, practices, reflections and prompts to help you connect with what really matters (to you) in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
If you or someone you know is dreading this Christmas, navigating an unchosen journey or difficult circumstances, Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas is a daily devotional for the month of December offering reflections and blessing for those looking to recover a sense of hope.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
Thresholds are times pregnant with possibility and rife with uncertainty. Sometimes they are welcomed, even chosen, but sometimes we are forced to stand on the ledge and face the murkiness of the unknown.
Advent is a threshold season. The stretch between Thanksgiving (in the United States) and Christmas is a space of waiting. Thresholds can be exciting as one anticipates something new, a fresh start or a change in course, but thresholds can also test us. They test the strength of our courage to move forward, to make a change, or to charge into something new and unknown. Our desire for control is revealed. There is only so much discomfort we can tolerate. Do we trust in the unfolding? And just how long must we wait for the new thing?
Whether in chaos or with longing, with a heart of eager anticipation or a soul heavy with dread, there are gifts and blessings to nurture and sustain your soul within this season of anticipation. The threshold of Advent is an invitation to step into a place of hope, where we believe that transformation is always possible and claim the promise of the already-and-not-yet reality of God’s reign: things will not always be this way.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
from Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent (Herald Press, 2025)
Spend some time reflecting on your own expectations for the holiday season. Since Advent can be especially busy, finding time for reflection might be challenging. However, carving out at least one time during the week when you can be alone and quiet is a meaningful spiritual practice, no matter what your schedule entails or your personality inclines you to prefer.
Before you reflect, take a few deep breaths and settle your body. When you are focused, think or journal about the following questions:
What are you expecting from yourself this Advent and Christmas?
What plans for holiday fun are realistic, and what might be better released either to be pursued in another stage of life or set aside permanently as not worth the time and effort?
Which expectations are ones you can and want to fulfill?
What (perhaps unrealized) expectations do you have of your family and friends for the holiday season?
Have you ever been surprised by an unexpected blessing? What was it? Retell the story in your journal or to a friend to solidify the memory.
Now that you have spent time considering the hopes and expectations you are carrying, invite God’s presence into your planning. Consider the people and situations that are difficult for you. Imagine placing them into God’s loving embrace. Invite God’s grace to be your companion in these days of preparation and anticipation.
Consider an Advent devotional as a gentle companion through the month of December.
You may want to check out Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent, a nontraditional devotional that includes recipes, practices, reflections and prompts to help you connect with what really matters (to you) in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
If you or someone you know is dreading this Christmas, navigating an unchosen journey or difficult circumstances, Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas is a daily devotional for the month of December offering reflections and blessing for those looking to recover a sense of hope.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
The act of blessing is a way of recognizing sacredness. It is a way of inviting God into all that is unfolding, into our experience both in pain and petition.
The words of invocation are offerings of care and courage for you as you navigate all that the Advent season holds. The blessings are an offering of words for when you may not have them. These are my prayers for you, a claim of hope in the bleak midwinter. Each blessing is a recognition that all parts of our lives have a place in God’s story.
Blessing for the chaos of thresholds
May you dare to hope
when you find yourself in darkness
staring down into the deep,
facing the swirl of chaos.
May you have the courage to step up
to the precipice, a threshold—
to teeter on the edge.
May you dare to hope
when you feel the sweep of the Wind,
hear the whisper of the Divine,
notice the pinprick of Light.
May you have the patience to
sit in the before, on the threshold—
holding on through the not-quite-yet.
May you dare to hope.
For in the
wind and wave,
darkness and light,
chaos and order,
God has come.
And,
God is not done.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! You can spread the joy by liking, commenting and sharing this post with others.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
some comfort and joy 