Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-With-Us Then, Here, and Now

In a world that's difficult to make sense of, and a season that's so often overtaken by consumerism, here you'll find heart-stirring illustrations and thought-provoking meditations designed to show you the raw, powerfully sacred story of Christmas in a new light.

Has the joy of the holiday season become painfully dissonant with the hard edges of life? Do you feel weary from the way Christmas has become a polished, predictable brand? You aren't alone. For too many of us, Christmas has lost its wonder. What if we stopped treating the Christmas story as something that happened a long time ago and started believing that it's a story that's still happening today?

From celebrated artist and storyteller Scott Erickson comes Honest Advent, 25 days of illustrations and meditations that will help you rekindle the wonder of this season. Honest Advent creates a space for you to encounter the Incarnate Christ in unexpected places: like a pregnancy announcement in an era of political unrest and empirical bloodshed, the morning sickness of a Middle Eastern teenager, and the shocking biology of birth that goes far beyond the sanitized brand of Christmas as we know it today.

Through powerful benedictions, prayers, and questions for honest reflection, you'll discover how the wonder of God-with-Us is still happening today: in your unexpected change of plans, your unaccomplished dreams, your overcrowded lodging, and your humble stories of new beginnings.

Throughout Honest Advent, Erickson teaches us the valuable lessons he's learned about:

• Finding hope and light in the darkest winters
• What it means to embrace the unexpected
• How God uses everyday vulnerability to help us understand ourselves, and our faith, better

If you're looking for something to spark your faith and renew your relationship with the holiday season, Erickson invites you to experience a new way to celebrate this Christmas.

Author: Scott Erickson
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 10/20/2020
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780310361879

About the Author

Scott Erickson is a touring painter, performance storyteller, and creative curate who mixes autobiography, biblical narrative, and visual aesthetics that speak to our deepest experiences. He is currently touring his multi-media storytelling piece "Say Yes: A Liturgy of Not Giving Up on Yourself," and is the coauthor of Prayer: Forty Days of Practice and May It Be So: Forty Days with the Lord's Prayer. Scott is most loved by his wife, Holly, and their three children in Austin, TX.

This title is not returnable