Advent is like celebrating a national holiday in a foreign land. It is like observing the 4th of July, or the Royal Jubilee, as an expatriate - we hand out sparklers and flags to friends, and we ask them to join in and belt out the national anthem, but they just don't see what all the fuss is about. Advent is equal parts cherishing and missing home. AND it's a mix of loving this world while getting ready to leave it behind. All of this makes Advent the most human celebration we have because it is the most complex. It is also the most biblical.

And we are in good company - Isaiah the prophet, David the psalmist, Paul the apostle, John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph and Jesus, all lived in one world and longed for the next. They all loved this world, and loved the world to come even more. In these 28 devotions, join them all in wearing the paradox of Christianity - this world may be our home, but that world is HOME.