Travel
THE
Highways
OF
Advent

Travel
THE
Highways
OF
Advent

An Advent Study for Adults

STAN PURDUM

TRAVEL THE HIGHWAYS OF ADVENT
AN ADVENT STUDY FOR ADULTS
Copyright © 2014 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, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202-0801, or e-mailed to permissions@umpublishing.org.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Purdum, Stan, 1945-

Travel the highways of Advent : an Advent study for adults / Stan Purdum.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-4267-8597-9 (book-pbk., adhesive perfect binding : alk. paper) 1. Advent--Prayers and devotions. 2. Bible--Devotional use. I. Title.

BV40.P87 2014

242’.332--dc23

2014022540

14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23—10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Contents

Introduction

First Week of Advent

The Straightened and Leveled Highway

Second Week of Advent

The Highway of Reversal

Third Week of Advent

The Highway In Between

Fourth Week of Advent

The Highway of Enthusiasm

Christmas

The Highway of Merriment

Introduction

Travel the Highways of Advent

Do you know what the problem with Advent hymns is? Nobody wants to sing them. At least that was true in every church I pastored. For the service on the first Sunday of Advent, I’d select such hymns as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” or “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” and folks would tolerate them; but if on the second Sunday, I used more Advent hymns, someone would stop me after the service and ask, “Can’t we sing some Christmas carols?” That happened so regularly that after a few years, I started opening the service on the second Sunday with an Advent hymn, but then I used carols for the second and final hymns. On the third Sunday, I again employed a mix of Advent and Christmas songs, but by the fourth Sunday, it was all Christmas carols.

The problem ...