Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent, and CT’s 2025 devotional Darkness, Then Light is available now on our website. Each year, says its introductory essay, this season reminds us of a "dark but divine truth. … During the dimmest hours of the night, we are moments away from the morning light—a light that never fails to arrive and welcome us into God’s evergreen mercies."
There are also plenty of Advent reads in our archives to prompt prayer and meditation in the days approaching Christmas. A few staff favorites:
Fleming Rutledge on turning our faces toward the future of God, not man: "Advent begins in the dark, where human prospects and human hopes are confounded."
Jen Wilkin on Advent waiting that goes back to Eden: "Though Adam and Eve could not live to see the Messiah, Simeon and Anna could not die until they had."
Philip Yancey on merrymaking: "Children know how to receive a gift without worrying about whether they deserve it or if it indebts them to the giver. They simply receive it."
Jonathan Warren Pagán on our long-expected judgment: "For the early Christians, salvation was corporate and collective before it was individual."
Give yourself a year of CT! New subscribers get 50% off during our Lowest Price of the Year campaign. Join now before this limited-time offer ends on December 1.
"I’ve heard so many versions of ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Feliz Navidad,’ but musicians are interpreters who can always find something new to say in a song," she writes. In an age of AI-generated music, "I think I have a new appreciation for that gift this year."
Pastors, what if we told you you’re likely only tapping into 12% of your church’s giving potential? Engaging and building relationships with high-capacity givers is the solution to tapping into the 88% left on the table and cultivating a culture of sustained generosity. There truly is a better way, and Westfall Gold is here to help.
Emily Belz, senior staff writer: Storymakers has cool Advent materials for kids, including a play to perform.
Kate Shellnutt, editorial director, news: I like the indie rock covers in the Spotify playlist Holidays Rule, including The Civil Wars singing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
Christmas is full of excitement. Planning meals, wrapping gifts, and gathering with loved ones make the season special. Yet sometimes, even the most joyful traditions can feel overwhelming or exhausting.…
As we enter the holiday season, we consider how the places to which we belong shape us—and how we can be the face of welcome in a broken world. In this issue, you’ll read about how a monastery on Patmos offers quiet in a world of noise and, from Ann Voskamp, how God’s will is a place to find home. Read about modern missions terminology in our roundtable feature and about an astrophysicist’s thoughts on the Incarnation. Be sure to linger over Andy Olsen’s reported feature "An American Deportation" as we consider Christian responses to immigration policies. May we practice hospitality wherever we find ourselves.
