{"id":20081,"date":"2022-09-22T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=20081"},"modified":"2022-09-22T23:25:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T23:25:55","slug":"simple-gifts-advent-devotional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2022\/simple-gifts-advent-devotional\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Simple gifts\u2019 is the theme for this year\u2019s Advent devotional from Brethren Press"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>By Jeff Lennard<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every part of the Christmas story is miraculous. God\u2019s love was made manifest in a lowly barn, in the dark of night, for ordinary people. We need not believe that we must do anything extraordinary to make this season magical. There\u2019s no need to worry about shopping for it or allowing the stresses of life to weigh us down. Perhaps if we practice leaning into the simplicity of the holy story and the sacredness of our ordinary lives, we will find joy and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Brethren Press devotional series is published twice a year in anticipation of the Advent and Lenten seasons. This year\u2019s Advent devotional is written by Kathy Guisewite, titled <em>Simple Gifts: Devotionals for Advent 2022<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Becoming a seasonal subscriber to the devotional series is easy, saves you money, and costs only $8 a year for both regular print booklets or $16 a year for both large print booklets. Subscriptions are renewed automatically each year at the discounted rate and bulk quantities can be adjusted with a simple call. Subscribers can cancel their enrollment in the program at any time. To sign up call 800-441-3712 and ask about the seasonal devotional standing order program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The early order special for the Advent devotional is $4 (large-print edition $8). Purchase online at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brethrenpress.com\/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8488\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"www.brethrenpress.com\/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8488\">www.brethrenpress.com\/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8488<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"731\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-731x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-731x1024.jpg 731w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-768x1076.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-1462x2048.jpg 1462w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover-560x784.jpg 560w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/advent_devo_cover.jpg 1497w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-background has-small-font-size\" style=\"background-color:#d6dde6\"><em><strong>Please pray<\/strong>\u2026 For Brethren Press, the publishing ministry of the Church of the Brethren.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/new-interim-leadership-positions\/\">Madalyn Metzger and Rhonda Pittman Gingrich to serve in new interim positions with the Church of the Brethren<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/global-church-of-the-brethren-communion-meets\/\">Global Church of the Brethren Communion meets in Spain<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/grant-of-500000-to-church-supports-bdm\/\">Grant of $500,000 to the Church of the Brethren will support Brethren Disaster Ministries<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/god-at-work-in-the-dr\/\">Discovering joys, challenges, and God at work with the churches in the Dominican Republic<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/global-mission-executive-visits-burundi\/\">Global Mission executive visits Church of the Brethren in Burundi, meets with church leaders from Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every part of the Christmas story is miraculous. God\u2019s love was made manifest in a lowly barn, in the dark of night, for ordinary people. We need not believe that we must do anything extraordinary to make this season magical. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[1720,1724,49,3,2528],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-20081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-advent-devotional","tag-bible-study","tag-brethren-press","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-kathy-guisewite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20083,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20081\/revisions\/20083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20081"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=20081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}