Almost Christmas Devotions for the Season. Ingrid McIntyre

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       ALMOST CHRISTMAS

       A WESLEYAN ADVENT EXPERIENCE

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       MAGREY R. DEVEGA image INGRID MCINTYRE APRIL CASPERSON image MATT RAWLE

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       Almost Christmas Devotions for the Season

       A Wesleyan Advent Experience

       Copyright © 2019 by Abingdon Press

       All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37228-1306 or emailed to [email protected].

       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data has been requested.

      ISBN 978-1-5018-9069-7

      Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Scripture quotations noted KJV are from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

      Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

      Scripture quotations noted NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

      Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

      Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

      Scripture quotations noted NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org/

      19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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      Introduction

      Our Advent journey requires a road map, one that will orient us in the right direction and chart our progress. For this Advent, we turn to one of the most important sermons that John Wesley every preached.

      It was on July 25, 1741, that John Wesley preached a sermon to his fellow Oxford University colleagues called “The Almost Christian,” in which he described a person who, on the surface, had all the outward appearance of godliness. This person did all the basic things right: practiced decency toward others, went to church, abstained from bad behavior, and sincerely tried to do his or her best. But Wesley would say that as commendable as that person might be (and wouldn’t it be great if everyone were at least that good!), such a person would only be almost a Christian.

      To help his hearers and readers get from that almost faith to one that altogether loves God, Wesley’s sermon is filled with dozens of questions. Each one explores a different aspect of a life that is fully committed to Jesus Christ, ranging from belief (“Do I believe that Jesus has taken away my sins and cast them as a stone into the depth of the sea?”) to practice (“Do I seriously follow God’s commandments whenever I can?”) to our relationships with others (“Do I love others as Christ loved me?”)

      Even though “The Almost Christian” was never intended to be an Advent or Christmas sermon, its questions can still guide us in our Advent journey, especially in preparing us to receive Christ more fully in our hearts and lives. For the next thirty-one days, beginning on December 1, we invite you to explore each question in depth, interspersed with meditations on some popular Christmas carols. And we will conclude on December 31 with a reminder of the Wesley Covenant Prayer to prepare you for the new year.

      Read each entry, pray through the questions that Wesley asks, and consider how God is leading you to make steady movement from an almost faith to an altogether one, as we welcome a fresh arrival of Jesus into our lives.

       Magrey R. deVega

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       Do I so far practice justice, mercy, and truth, as even the world requires?

      On a recent trip to the local Starbucks, I encountered a couple who looked like they needed something. Actually it looked like they needed more than just something—they looked sad, wearied, and weak. As I passed them, my heart began tugging


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