Responding to God’s Announcements

This free Advent study guide is a gift from The Upper Room daily devotional guide. The study is for small groups or individuals to use during the days of Advent, in preparation for the coming of Christ. Advent begins on Sunday, December 3, 2006, and continues for four weeks until Christmas. Feel free to reproduce the weekly sessions of the study guide for personal or small-group use.

Advent is a time to wait for the coming of Christ, God's gift to the world. In Jesus, God's love is revealed and God's word is spoken. God lives with human beings in a tiny child, dirt poor, and in a man who comes preaching God's presence. In Christ, we are given the free gift of God's grace: love unearned and undeserved. At Christmas, we celebrate the down-to-earth, in-the-flesh, love of God in Jesus Christ.

Advent is also a time to prepare for Christ's Second Coming, when God will dwell with human beings and the world will be transformed in God's gracious love. It is a time to look around and to see in our own lives the astonishing gifts of God, which come full-term in Jesus Christ.

Preparation
This four-week study is based on meditations in The Upper Room daily devotional guide, beginning Sunday, November 26, 2006. Each participant will need a copy of the November-December 2006 issue of The Upper Room. To order copies of the magazine, call 1-800-972-0433 at least four weeks before the sessions begin. If your copies have not arrived by November 14, we can e-mail the first meditations to you. You may then photocopy them for your group.

General Instructions
Each day, participants should read the scripture, meditation, and prayer suggested in The Upper Room.

This study guide may be used by a group or adapted for individual reflection and prayer. A separate study is included for intergenerational groups and one for adult groups.

The four weekly sessions may also be used in conjunction with the Advent worship litanies (pages 40-43 in The Upper Room magazine).

Leadership may rotate among group members. The leader should contact participants ahead of time to involve them in special readings or prayers during the weekly sessions.

Copyright © 2006 by The Upper Room. Permission is given for copies of this study to be reproduced for your group.