The Advent of Christ : Scripture Reflections to Prepare for Christmas

If you are looking for a good scripture study for this Advent season you should check out the latest from Edward Sri, The Advent of Christ: Scripture Reflections to Prepare for Christmas. Starting with the first Sunday of Advent through the Feast of the Epiphany, Edward takes the reader on a journey to better understanding of the coming of the Messiah. The daily entries for this book are drawn from his previous title Dawn of the Messiah.

The book itself is broken into five sections, one for each week of advent and the fifth for Christmas week. They are as follows:

Week One – Setting the Stage : The Prophecies and the Hope

Week Two – Serving God’s Plan : St. Joseph, Zechariah, and John the Baptist

Week Three – In Mary’s Footsteps : Her Call and Her Journey of Faith

Week Four – From Nazareth to Bethlehem : The Joys and Sorrows of The Holy Family

Christmas – Witness to the Mystery : The Shepherd’s, the Magi, and Simeon

Each of the weeks leads off with a brief introduction to the theme of study for that week. The daily reading for each day consists of a verse from Scripture, a study of various lengths (most are around 2 pages) , a question for reflection and a closing prayer. The Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus from Matthew and Luke are used exclusively for the Scripture passages.

Edward raises a very good point about the birth of Christ in the introduction. “Perhaps the Christmas story has become almost too familiar…..But what if we had never heard the story before? What if we were Jews in the first century who were hearing this plot for the first time?”

This book does just this. It presents the account of the birth of Jesus Christ in a fresh manner for study. It presents the story of Advent from the prophecies of the coming of the promised Messiah all the way to Simeon in the Temple. This is a wonderful study for Advent, one I gladly recommend.

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I received a copy of the book for this review from Servant Books.