Does your church participate in an Advent Bible reading plan? John Piper's ministry, Desiring God, recently posted an article on their blog about Advent with some compelling reasons why you might consider doing so. Jonathan Parnell describes Advent this way:
"Advent" is from the Latin word for "coming" — translated from the Greek word parousia. It's a stretch of four weeks where we reenact and remember how the Old Testament saints longed for Messiah to come.
Noel Piper, the wife of pastor John Piper, describes Advent in Desiring God's free online book Treasuring God in Our Traditions, saying:
So here we stand in the middle. Advent is the season of looking back, thinking how it must have been, waiting for the promised salvation of God, not knowing what to expect. And at the same time, Advent is a season of looking ahead, preparing ourselves to meet Jesus at his Second Coming. (Treasuring God in Our Traditions, 77).
While many evangelicals have tended to avoid more liturgical approaches to Christian worship, recent trends have reversed to embrace more an more events on the "Christian calendar." Advent, often observed for four weeks before Christmas, can be a focused time of Bible study and prayer centered on remembering the first time Jesus came into our world. Many churches provide devotional guides for families to use throughout the week in family worship to prepare for Sunday services that focus on the same Scripture passages and biblical themes.
The Village Church in Texas has produced an excellent devotional guide for their church that they are sharing for free online. You can download the guide here. The Village Church sets aside 5 weeks for Advent (instead of 4) and focus on the following themes:
WEEK 1: PROMISES AND PATIENCE
Theme: Our God makes and keeps promises, and His people are called
to wait with patient longing.
WEEK 2: AWAITING AN ADVENT
Theme: God made a particular promise of a Messiah, and Israel longed
for His coming.
WEEK 3: INCARNATION AND IMPLICATIONS
Theme: God fulfilled the promise of a Messiah in the first advent of
Jesus Christ.
WEEK 4: RESURRECTION AND RETURN
Theme: After dying to redeem His people from slavery, Christ rose from
the dead and promised to come again to redeem us fully.
WEEK 5: WATCHING AND WAITING
Theme: As we await the second advent of Christ, we are called to a life of
prayerful and prepared patience.
If you are looking for something less devotional and more focused on the biblical text itself, YouVersion offers a free Bible reading plan for Christmas. You can choose to read in the Bible translation of your choice, including the HCSB.
If you are willing to spend $12.99, Nancy Guthrie has edited a short but exhaustive guide to writings of theologians throughout history. Some of the contributors include:
Nancy Guthrie (Editor), Alistair Begg (Contributor), James Montgomery Boice (Contributor),Joseph Ryan (Contributor), John Piper (Contributor), J. Ligon Duncan (Contributor), Randy Alcorn(Contributor), John MacArthur (Contributor), Francis A. Schaeffer (Contributor), R. C. Sproul(Contributor), Joni Eareckson Tada (Contributor), George Whitefield (Contributor), Martin Luther(Contributor), Timothy J. Keller (Contributor), Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Contributor), Jonathan Edwards(Contributor), Charles H. Spurgeon (Contributor), Augustine (Contributor), J. I. Packer (Contributor),John Calvin (Contributor), Alistair Begg (Contributor), Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. (Contributor), J. C. Ryle (Contributor)
You can find Come Thou Long Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas by Nancy Guthrie here.