• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Katie Rouse Writes

Where the gold gets made.

  • About Katie
    • Contact Katie
  • Writing
    • Blog
    • The Season of Advent
    • My India Story
    • Categories
  • Marketing Support
  • Discipleship & Mentoring
  • Subscribe

The Season of Advent

Advent is the season of celebrating the coming of Christ, and of longing for his return.

I didn’t grow up with Advent; I discovered it while living overseas, where I journaled through the season with red pen, poetry & songs, and with advent resources like books with modern literature readings. I remember sitting on balconies with blankets (India does get cold sometimes) and friends as I, for the first time, learned to savor time, slowly plod through a season, and wait expectantly for the next one: the new year.

What is Advent?

Advent is the season of celebrating the coming of Christ, and of longing for his return. It’s a season that holds the tension of hope: that we do have Christ who came to be a man and a sacrifice for us, but that we also have a Christ we must wait to return, to make all things right.

Ways I’ve Celebrated Advent

Ever since 2015, I’ve been learning and leaning into Advent (and Lent) as a season that I set a part for different study, different focus, different time spent with him. As you’ll see below, that has included writing and singing songs, poems, and short devotions. One day, I hope it might include writing my own Advent long-form devotion!

Resources for Advent Reading & Reflecting

Each year, I’ve done something a little bit different, whether it’s a different focus or book or style. I wrote songs weekly in 2016; I’ve read different books; I’ve listened to different sermons series. Here are some of my favorite Advent resources:

  • Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Ephiphany. This book was the first major Advent reading I did, and it was a really beautiful, but hefty read. This same editor also has a similar resource for Lent and Ordinary Time.
  • Honest Advent by Scott Erickson. This collection from an artist I love following on Instagram is fresh and a lighter collection of readings.
  • Advent Reminds Us is a series by a fellow writer/blogger/editor who has encouraged me. These posts are weighty and beautiful – a true joy to read. Best of all: they’re online & free!

There are so many more resources than this, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Advent posts through the years:

  • Advent Songs, part 1: counselorDecember 1, 2016
    I love advent. Just within the past year, thanks to a friend who was with me 24/7 in our first holiday season away […]
  • Advent Songs, part 2: faithDecember 4, 2016
    With this week’s sermon, came two songs, of sorts–though the first, I guess, should be called a poem, since I didn’t discover a […]
  • Advent Songs, part 3: fatherDecember 12, 2016
    It’s a quiet morning here.  And by quiet, I mean my heart is quietly waking, coffee in hand, cardigan on, and blankets piled […]
  • advent 2016 songs: peace cover photo
    Advent Songs, part 4: peaceDecember 18, 2016
    This hasn’t exactly been a year of peace for me. Or, as the Hebrew word shalom describes it, it hasn’t been a year […]
  • Advent Songs, Christmas Eve: gloryDecember 24, 2016
    The new year races towards me, but today, it’s only Christmas Eve. Still, as I read Luke 2 this morning, my thoughts went […]
  • advent devotional 2018 cover photo of candles and devotional post title
    Advent: Peace and imperfection.December 11, 2018
    “I was rounding the corner to the new year in every way. Promise had surfaced in my life. We’d had small circumstantial changes […]
  • advent 2020 week one imagery
    advent 2020, week 1: only the beginningNovember 29, 2020
    Advent is only the beginning In the gospels For the last four months, I’ve been reading & rereading the gospels each month. This […]
  • cover photo for advent poem
    poem: the advent of our shameDecember 12, 2020
    a poem for Advent 2020, week 2 The advent of our shame was in the garden where we hid ourselves, clothed ourselves: Shame […]
  • advent week 2 cover photo: God understands our shame
    advent 2020, week 2: God understands our shameDecember 12, 2020
    The second week of Advent is meant to be about peace. Instead, I found myself stuck in shame. So here’s the question I […]
  • advent 2020 week 3: do we deserve joy?
    advent 2020, week 3: do we deserve joy?December 19, 2020
    What do you deserve? It seems like a weird question, but also one that I think most of us have a pretty negative […]
  • poem: the advent of our joyDecember 19, 2020
    based on advent week 3 post: do we deserve joy? the advent of joycomes with a baby’s womb-leapingand a once-barren woman, familiar with […]
  • advent 2020, week 4: what I’ve learned about loveDecember 22, 2020
    Today, I’ve been married for 10 months. And I love the timing of this, in the final week of Advent, the week which […]

© 2020 Katie Rouse