Advent for Exiles
25 Devotions to Awaken Gospel Hope in Every Longing Heart
Do you long for a more honest, imaginative, and Scripture-rich companion for the Advent season? A devotional willing to acknowledge the darkness of exile and the brokenness you see around and within, so you might rejoice more fully in the arrival of Jesus, the Light of the World?
In Advent for Exiles songwriter and storyteller Caroline Cobb weaves together Scripture readings, song lyrics, poetic prose, biblical imagery, and responsive exercises to help you: break away from the hurried holiday pace, and daily stoke your anticipation for Jesus’s coming, engage both your mind and your imagination in the truth of God’s Word, walk in the shoes of the Old Testament exiles, linking arms with them as they ache for the Messiah, travel the Advent road from darkness to daybreak, exile to homecoming, and wilderness to a flourishing garden, explore how the full story of Scripture—from creation to Christ’s return—informs and expands your delight at Christmas
As the darkness of a long night sharpens our longing for the sunrise, this book of daily readings for the month of December will whet your appetite for the promised Messiah and amplify your joy at His arrival.
Come slow your pace, engage your imagination, and feast on the rich and relevant biblical theme of exile: His light shining in our darkness, His seed sprouting green in our wilderness. Allow yourself to experience the ache of Advent, so you might rejoice all the more at the beauty of Christ’s coming!
- Opening Credits
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part 1: The First Exile
- Day 1: Imagine Eden
- Day 2: Imagine Exile
- Part 2: In the Darkness of Exile, A Sunrise
- Day 3: Exile from a Second Eden
- Day 4: A Light in the Darkness
- Day 5: Jesus as Exile in Reverse
- Day 6: We All Long for Eden
- Part 3: In The Wilderness of Exile, A Seed and A Highway
- Day 7: A Desolate Vineyard, A Better Vine
- Day 8: The Seed of a New Creation
- Day 9: The Highway in the New Exodus
- Day 10: Pilgrims on the Way to Zion
- Part 4: For the Lost Sheep in Exile, a Sheperd-King
- Day 11: Come, Son of David!
- Day 12: Hosanna on th Horizon
- Day 13: Majesty, Bending Low in Love
- Day 14: Pave Every Road with Repentance
- Part 5: In the Silence of Exile, God Speaks
- Day 15: The Cosmic Word in Human Flesh
- Day 16: Good News for All People
- Day 17: The New and Better Jubilee
- Day 18: A King Anointed for a Mission
- Part 6: In the Ashes and Ruin of Exile, A New Home for God
- Day 19: Beauty for the Ashes of Mourning
- Day 20: Who Will Rebuild the Ruins?
- Day 21: Light Your Lamps!
- Day 22: Planting Seeds for the New Eden
- Part 7: In Our Present Exile, A Future Hope
- Day 23: We'll Go to the Mountain of God
- Day 24: Behold! God Makes His Home with Us!
- Part 8: Emmanuel
- Day 25: At Long Last | He Is Here!
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Closing Credits