This Christmas season is shaping up to be a weird one isn’t it? No carols, or maybe a few, so long as you’re outdoors and mask clad. Some families will gather as normal, a close handful coming together again, but others will forego the 40-odd person gathering with every cousin and their dog, missing this tradition for the first time in a long time.

Each year, December gets busier and faster, but perhaps that won’t be the case this year. But while calendars mightn’t be so full, I’m sure our minds will be, with the looming end of the year prompting us to reflect on the many ‘surprises’ 2020 has held. In a time when our minds are full and moving fast, something to help us slow down could be just the thing this year.

When I started reading Christopher Ash’s advent devotional book at the beginning of last December, I felt sceptical that a devotional covering so little scripture over 24 days could keep from becoming repetitive – it only covers two chapters! And two chapters of Luke’s gospel that are so very familiar?!

Yet each morning, as I opened up to the couple of pages set aside for that day, I grew to look forward to uncovering more of the insights Ash shares on both the biggest revelations and smallest details. These details so easily pass us by as we take in the whole story in just one or perhaps a few sermons in the Christmas season. But digesting Luke 1-2 slowly over 24 days offered me a renewed experience of this narrative.

The structure of each day’s devotional manages to bring both accessibility and depth. Over a few pages there’s a short passage of scripture, a reflection, a prayer, a verse from a hymn and space for your own note-taking. I found it helpful having something bite-sized to pick up in a time when mental energy was being spent all over the place, but found the different dimensions of short scripture readings, prayer, reflection and song really enriched my grasp of the day’s verses. It makes an ideal gift for the person who’s considering Christ at Christmas for the first or fiftieth time.

Meet Lauren Mahaffey

Lauren recently graduated from Moore College and is now serving at Summer Hill Church as an assistant minister, with a focus on sharing Jesus with children and youth. Her spare time is usually all about catching up with friends and family, nerding out over podcasts, running, and cooking.