"Advent ushers us into a season of anticipation, hope, and joy, as we await the day of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah ... We intend this Advent Devotional booklet as a gift of the season for
you, to signify our deep appreciation for all that you do for
Austin Seminary. And we hope that you will share it with others, so that they may also partake in the blessings of Advent alongside us. Be assured that our hearts are joyful to overflowing as we celebrate together this season that anticipates what my dear friend John Rogers described in the title of his book,
“The Birth of God.” May your heart overflow, as well."
G. Archer Frierson
Austin Seminary Board of Trustees
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Advent Devotional for December 23
• Matthew 1:18-25
“Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way ...”
Such a pedestrian beginning. Don’t we know the way births take place? Isn’t every one of us born according to pattern, with the same soaring joys at sexual union, the same hooded flame of hope and expectation, the same strain of growing belly and arched back, the worried nights through false contractions, the screams of pain and rending, the sweat-soaked exhaustion after mother and child, so long one, are now and forever two?
Does the birth of Jesus not take place “in this way,” too? There are, of course, angelic voices reassuring Joseph against the shame of premature pregnancy. There are biblical precedents, harking back into the prophecy of Isaiah, to hopes of a God-with-us, and suggesting that, like that young woman of distant memory, Mary bears the sacred future in her womb. There are affirmations of obedience and assertions of abstinence, and the beginnings of controversial doctrines that believers will argue about for centuries.
But isn’t this the real story, contained in this first line? The birth of Jesus took place. God enters the warp and weft of human life in the most ordinary way. God does not overwhelm us with heavenly floodlights and the angelic choruses while all the kings of the world doff their crowns in obeisance. God does not split the skies—to say nothing of the eardrums—with pronouncements of transformational glory. Some of that may come in due time, but not yet. Here at the beginning there is a birth. Just a birth. Like any other birth. And it took place in this way. Our way. The human way.
Advent is the time for hoping, and perhaps also for secretly dreading that those hopes are too grand, too enormous for accomplishment. Behind the angel’s announcement there lurks the worry that this world is so besmirched by sin and sorrow that even God cannot scrub it clean. We spend these days expecting the spectacle, even as we fear a flop. But what comes is a child. The birth of Jesus took place in this way.
Reverend Dr. Paul Hooker
Associate Dean for Ministerial Formation and Advanced Studies
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
We hope that you are preparing the way for the Lord in your life as you read these meditations and prayers. And, we hope this Advent season is a meaningful one for you. Please know that Austin Seminary’s dedicated, diverse, and loving community of faith is not complete without you. Did you know?
• Students in our masters-degree programs receive up to 85% need-based tuition aid.
• Historically, more than 80% of our graduates are called to congregational ministry.
• Our students come from more than a dozen denominations.
• Our alumni serve in ministry in forty-eight U.S. states as well as in twenty different countries across the world.
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• CLICK HERE to learn how you can support the mission of Austin Seminary
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
The ChinaAid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.
