More Advent for Families

by Steve Watters

Have you found a good Advent reading for your family this year?  Last year, Candice posted about the significance of family Advent reading and provided several recommendations.

I want to add two new recommendations to that list.

The Expected One is a new Advent reading produced by Scott James, a pediatrician who serves on the elder board at the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama where he lives with his wife and four children.

In his foreword, David Platt writes, “Scott faithfully serves children and their parents in our church, and he has written with a keen eye specifically aimed on fostering faith in the hearts of our kids.” The length of daily entries make The Expected One a very manageable Advent reading for families with small children who are still growing in their ability to stay engaged with longer texts. Each entry also includes questions for review and reflection to help with application.

Also, John Piper has released The Dawning of Indestructible Joy as a paperback and as an audio book. His prayer from the introduction is worth repeating as a prayer for our advent season:

This is my prayer for you this Christmas–

that you would experience the fullness of Christ;
that you would know in your heart the outpouring of grace upon grace;
that the glory of the only Son from the Father would shine upon your hearts:
that you would be amazed that Christ can be so real to you.