Product Overview
When the night is long, the light still comes. Find hope this Advent through the words of the prophets.
For many, Advent and Christmas are celebrated in the darkest time of the year. The experience of waiting and longing for the first glimmer of sunlight over the horizon serves as a poignant and perennial metaphor for the human quest to find hope amid sorrow, hardship, and fear.
The prophets knew this feeling well and spoke hope to God’s people with the power to sustain them—and us—through uncertain times. Some sang of God’s faithfulness, some spoke of a messiah, all cast a vision for when current trials were no more because God’s kingdom will have come to earth. As we await the birth of Jesus, our Messiah, we carry the heaviness of daily life and listen for the voices of those witnessing to the light.
This Advent study features the words and stories of prophetic figures in Scripture, from Major Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist to lesser-heard voices like Miriam, Joel, Ezekiel, and Anna. Weekly themes—reveal, renew, rejoice, and return—guide readers through an Advent practice that speaks ancient comfort to modern souls, turning our heads toward the signs of life these biblical heroes proclaimed: flowing water in the desert, a vibrant branch from a felled stump, a virgin with child, a dawn to shine in the darkness.
Each week’s chapter includes daily readings and study questions to facilitate group discussion, and readers will find helpful resources in the back of the book for congregational worship, mission, and fellowship.
Reviews
"Witness to the Light is a rare find. Unflinchingly in touch with reality yet saturated with hope-filled wisdom, this gritty, gracious resource will both gently discomfort and boldly encourage you. Erin Wathen somehow knows us, our fears, our cynicism, and our capacity for being made new again even still. It’s just the refreshing gift you didn’t realize you needed for an Advent that is more than what you expected from God, from Scripture, and even from yourself."—Dawn Darwin Weaks, coauthor of Holy Disruption: A Manifesto for the Future of Faith Communities
"Wathen’s new study is a trustworthy spiritual companion on the Advent journey. She weaves personal stories and contemporary voices with the ancient wisdom of the Hebrew prophets to help us light our candles and wait in hope. Wathen clearly addresses our broken world in this precarious moment with honesty and an eye toward that manger in Bethlehem. Invite a friend, a group, or your church to celebrate this season of wonder and awakening."
—Tyler Mayfield, author of Unto Us a Child Is Born: Isaiah, Advent, and Our Jewish Neighbors
"The world we live in feels like a hurricane of awful headlines and hateful rhetoric, war and impending climate disaster, swirling around us in ways that are both disorienting and defeating. Amid this wearying confusion, we count on prophets, both ancient and modern-day, to offer us clear descriptions of the world as it is and words of hope pointing toward a new world we cannot envision in the moment. Wathen grounds us in prophetic wisdom for such a time as this, leaving us grounded in bold hope and renewed courage."—Chris Furr, author of Straight White Male: A Faith-Based Guide to Deconstructing Your Privilege and Living with Integrity