The Gift of New Hope: Scriptures for the Church Seasons

The Gift of New Hope, originally published in 2015, invites readers to explore their yearning for God's presence through a study of the lectionary Bible readings for Advent and Christmas. Each week's Scriptures call us to praise God as we actively await the coming of Christ and prepare our hearts and lives for his arrival. Through the readings, we hear the invitation to claim and celebrate the new hope we have in Jesus Christ.

The season of Advent offers opportunities to prepare for God’s coming in human form in the infant Jesus and for the fulfillment of God’s kingdom with the second coming of Christ. Hope is the focus of Advent worship, study, and prayer. We will discover the light that began in the manger, which continues as we look forward with hope to Christ's return.

The Gift of New Hope is based on the Revised Common Lectionary scriptures for church year C, the third of a three-year cycle of Bible readings. The study includes commentary and reflection on readings from the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles. It offers the opportunity to explore these Bible readings in a five-session study. It will help participants understand, appreciate, and engage in meaningful and joyous celebrations of Advent and Christmas and to live each day in God's hope through Jesus Christ.

Christopher L. Webber, a graduate of Princeton University and the General Theological Seminary in New York, is the author of a number of books ranging from Dear Friends: Letters of St. Paul to Christians in America to The Beowulf Trilogy and American to the Backbone, the biography of fugitive slave and abolitionist, James W.C. Pennington. He has served congregations in New York, Connecticut, and Tokyo, Japan, but recently moved to San Francisco where he is learning about city life after spending 20 years in rural Connecticut.