Forward Today: God’s promises are sure

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Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

We are nearing the end of our journey through Advent. Once again, we have spent time as a church yearning and preparing to meet Jesus Christ.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading gives us Mary’s song, the Magnificat. I’ve heard this read sometimes as a to-do list— we should feed the hungry, and so on. Of course, we SHOULD feed the hungry, but reading the Magnificat this way misses the point. It makes Mary’s song about us.

In fact, the Magnificat is about God and his steadfast promises. Mary is singing about the deeds and power of God from the centuries before her time. She is recounting all that God has done, knowing that God’s acts in the past are assurances that God will act in the future.

Mary is magnifying God because she knows that God is about to do a wondrous thing in sending the savior of the world to live among us, not in power and glory but as a vulnerable baby born in humble circumstances. Truly, this is wondrous!

And Mary is reminding all who sing with her that God always looks out for the lowly, the least, and the lost. Christmas is perhaps the chief example of God’s way of working in the world to bring about our salvation, but it is only one (stellar!) example in an entire history filled with God’s deeds.

Let us with joy prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. And let us give thanks that God never gives up on us, that God is always working in our lives and in our world to bring about our redemption. Let us all magnify the Lord!

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Last chance! Grab your Epiphany calendar today

Delve into Mary’s song and others like it: Bible Women

Reflect on the last few days of the season: AdventWord

Our ministry in numbers and stories: 2024 Annual Report

Forward Today: John the Baptist is talking to us!

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Dear friends in Christ,

Every year in the midst of Advent, we encounter the bracing prophecy of John the Baptist. 2,000 years ago, he was a voice crying in the wilderness. Today, he is a tiny voice crying out in a cacophonous world of consumption and distraction. We all do well to clear away the noise and listen to this prophet.

One occupational hazard of Christians is that we read scripture’s warnings as applying to OTHER people. It’s tempting to read the stories of scriptures with ourselves in the place of heroes and someone else in the place of villains. This is a kind of tacit judgement. Jesus warned us about this. And, yes, he’s talking to you and to me!

Our job is to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling. If we notice another who has stumbled, our job is to invite them to a life in Christ—shaped by his grace and mercy— not to heap condemnation on them. Instead, we should get our own hearts in line.

This Sunday, we hear the prophet say,
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

Imagine he’s saying this:
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We are the right kind of Christians already; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children of God.”

Our world is increasingly polarized. We are taught to despise THOSE PEOPLE, whoever they are. But this is not the way of Jesus. He offers salvation to all who will accept the gift. Our task as his followers is to tend to our own hearts, and to invite others to a new life in Christ.

The prophet tells us the way. Live well, treat people fairly, share what we have, look for Jesus. In other words, love God and love our neighbors.

There’s no better time than right now to hear the prophet’s voice and to accept his invitation.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

In case you missed it: Our Holiday Gift Guide for 2024

Look back on a year of ministry: 2024 Annual Report

Follow AdventWord for daily reflections throughout this season

Flash Sale: Get your Epiphany calendars today!

Forward Movement’s Holiday Gift Guide 2024

Looking for the perfect gift for the book lovers in your life? We’re here to help. 

Forward Movement has a rich collection of accessible, inspiring books that can help you begin or continue your spiritual journey.

Take a look at our curated recommendations for this holiday season.

The impact of your gift stretches farther when you purchase directly from Forward Movement. Each purchase supports our ministry to provide free books and devotionals to prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, and military bases. Order today – and see more of our bestselling books – at forwardmovement.org.

Beautiful prayers for any time or place:

No matter where you are or what’s on your mind, it’s always a good time to pray. Prayers New and Old and Prayers for All Occasions are two beautiful books that make prayer on the go easier. These volumes offer a diverse collection of prayers for family, life events, church work, and other unique occasions. Their pages are full of your favorite psalms, intercessions, praises and thanksgivings from The Book of Common Prayer, along with new prayers to enhance your prayer collection. With faux leather cover, gold edges, and ribbon, these are perfect gifts that introduces young and old to experience the richness of prayer.

Jump into learning more about the Bible:

Perhaps there are disciples in your life who want to know more about scripture than just what they hear in church on Sunday – but they don’t want to start. One of our bestselling Bible study books may be the perfect entry point into a deeper journey of learning.

A Journey with Luke Bible Challenge contains bite-sized reflections on the gospel we’ll hear in church throughout 2025. And we have more where that came from, in all 10 books of the Bible Challenge series.

Or you could travel through the entirety of scripture through a new lens, accompanied by the women of the Bible. Bible Women identifies every woman who speaks in the Bible, from the familiar to the surprising. The expanded second edition features new ways to use and study the words and wisdom, updated content for today’s context, and 93 prayers—one for each woman who speaks in the Bible.

For loved ones young and old:

Is someone in your life a young adult, new college graduate, or in the midst of a life transition? This may be the perfect time for a devotional that avoids saccharine-sweet stories or guilt-tripping demands. Devotions for People Who Don’t Do Devotions is a lighthearted yet earnest invitation to look for God’s hand at work in your day-to-day life. Buy two copies and read along with your loved one!

For smaller disciples – even those too young to read – check out these new playing cards, The BIG Way of Love for Kids. The cards guide children to explore Bible stories, listen, pray, learn, and practice. They can play alone and with friends, church teachers, or family. The BIG Way of Love works for all kinds of young children and is designed to grow with them. Because we’re never too old or too young to walk the Way of Love with Jesus.

Forward Today: It’s not too late for Advent!

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Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

We’re four days into the season of Advent. Maybe you have a brilliant Advent practice and your beautiful Advent wreath is ready to be lighted in the evening. If so, wonderful! But maybe the whole season snuck up on you. After all, Thanksgiving and the heavy advertising of Black Friday can be plenty to focus on.

If so, I’m here to give you some great news. It’s not too late for Advent! In fact, this is one of my favorite teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: it’s never too late.

You don’t need an Instagram-worthy Advent wreath to be a real Christian. You can go without one, or you can grab any four candles or lights or whatever you like. We have a LEGO wreath at our house.

This season is the church’s gift to us all, an invitation to return to the Lord—to prepare our hearts and our minds to greet Jesus whenever we meet him. Sure, Advent is partly about getting ready for our Christmas worship. But it’s also about opening ourselves to be ready to meet Jesus in the sacraments; in the body of Christ, the church; in the scriptures; and in those whom we serve in his name. Of course, we’re also making sure we’re ready should he return in glory. And we’ll all meet him one day, as he will judge both the living and the dead. That’s all of us.

So how to do that, especially if the whole season snuck up on you? Spending a bit more time in prayer in this season can be helpful. If your church offers Advent programs or classes, sign up. Listen to Advent music. Read the scriptures—one way is to read one chapter of Luke’s Gospel each day. That gets you from December 1 to December 24, and you’re only a couple of days “behind.”

If you want some help, Forward Movement brings you AdventWord, a daily word to reflect on. You can receive the reflections in email or on social media. Or you can get an ebook (instant delivery!) of one of our recent Advent devotions:

Have a blessed Advent, in whatever form the holy season takes for you.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

New this year: Walking In The Light calendar for Epiphany

Our ministry in numbers and stories: 2024 Annual Report

Read through Luke’s Gospel in this 50 Day Bible Challenge

Welcome guests at Christmas with these helpful resources

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Advent begins tomorrow – the season of preparing for Christmas. Whether you’re pulling out the extra chairs to expand your worship space, or shopping for Christmas gifts for family near and far, you are likely preparing to welcome guests and visitors in the weeks to come.

In the church, Christmas worship services are among the most-attended in nearly every congregation each year – not just for regular worshipers, but for folks who are new to the church or are visiting with family. Here at Forward Movement, we know how important the work of welcome is. And we want to help. Here are a few ideas for gifts or giveaways that church leaders and individuals can share with visitors this Christmas.

For families of all ages: “Christmas: It’s A Season” Calendar

Contrary to secular culture, in the Christian tradition, the twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas day and the season continues through January 6, the Epiphany, when we recall the coming of the Wise Men to honor Jesus’s birth. With this calendar, you can be more intentional about celebrating the full season of Christmas.

Sold in shrink-wrapped packs of 25, these make a perfect giveaway on the way out the door from Christmas Eve worship. Break out the crayons and markers at home to decorate this calendar with the whole family.

For children: The BIG Way of Love for Kids Playing Cards

Jesus loved to be with children, so we are thrilled to offer a new discipleship resource: The BIG Way of Love for Kids. It’s a set of playing cards and activities to help our kids to become the BIG, beloved children of God they were created to be.

Order sets of playing cards in the custom box (or print the free digital coloring sheets). The cards (or sheets) guide children to explore Bible stories, listen, pray, learn, and practice. They can play alone and with friends, church teachers, or family.

These cards are perfect stocking stuffers for a grandchild, godchild, or young friend. They would also be a good addition to a church nursery or children’s chapel. Jesus meets us everywhere where we go, so this resource is easy to take everywhere you go. Because we’re never too old or too young to walk the Way of Love with Jesus.

For adults: Forward Day by Day

Of course, we hope each Christmas visitor takes their encounter with Jesus into the new year. For nearly a century, Forward Movement has provided a tool to reflect and pray in the midst of a busy life: Forward Day by Day. The classic pocket-size version in English or Spanish is about the size of a cell phone, but thinner – easy to slip into a pocket or purse on the way out of church on Christmas.

This festive season may be a good time for your church to start a bulk subscription, or just order a few 10-packs to restock for visitors. For those of you shopping for family or friends, consider a gift subscription in their name. Your loved one will receive four issues of insightful meditations, mailed to their address throughout the year.

The work of welcome – extending a friendly hand to visitors and newcomers – is an essential part of evangelism. Welcoming visitors to your church or home this Christmas can invite them to form a relationship with your community, and perhaps even deepen their relationship with Jesus. We pray that everyone who walks through your doors in this holy season is blessed for the year ahead.

Forward Today: Gratitude, always

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Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

Tomorrow, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. This is one of those times when the church keeps a feast on a secular holiday. Our prayer book sets this day aside as a major feast.

The history of Thanksgiving Day is complicated, and it’s worth exploring to see what we can learn. But today I simply want to express my gratitude for a feast that invites us to express our gratitude. Gratitude upon gratitude!

Given all the headlines, one might be tempted to skip an occasion to offer our thanks to God. There’s so much to fix in our world! Violence and division seem endemic. Greed and fear run amok. In a time like this, it’s more important than ever to pause and give thanks.

There isn’t a person alive who hasn’t received blessings from God. Life itself is a gift. God has richly blessed us and our world. And if nothing else, we can give thanks “for the means of grace and for the hope of glory” in Jesus Christ.

For my part, I want to share some of the things for which I’m grateful. At Forward Movement, I’m thankful for a passionate and faithful staff who do excellent work to build up the body of Christ. I’m grateful for generous donors who make it possible for us to offer free materials online and to send free booklets and books to those in need, especially people who are in prisons. And I’m filled with gratitude for God’s call to serve him in his church, for the opportunity to testify to God’s goodness and to invite others to know the love of Jesus.

For what are you grateful?

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

P.S. You won’t hear from us on Giving Tuesday because we believe every day is an opportunity for gratitude and generosity. We welcome your offering of thanksgiving to God anytime, sharing new and Christ-centered ministry resources.

More from our ministry:

Our ministry in numbers and stories: 2024 Annual Report

Get your Christmas and Epiphany calendars today

Gratitude and giving as spiritual practices: Vital Signs of Life

Share these spiritual playing cards with your littlest loved ones

Forward Today: The King of kings and Lord of lords

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Photo: Scott Gunn

Dear friends in Christ,

This weekend we celebrate the last Sunday of our church year, a day on which we always focus on the kingship of Christ. The collect beautifully sums up what this celebration is all about:

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Let us pray those words fervently.

Politicians and those seeking office have been much in the news lately. We who follow Jesus do well to remember that he is our king. No earthly ruler has the ultimate claim on us.

And what kind of king is Jesus? He is nothing like most political leaders. He came not to be served, but to serve. His rule is gracious, that is, full of grace and mercy. He is always loving. He brings us not condemnation for our sins, but a path to salvation by the remission of our sins.

May all our hearts be governed by Jesus. And may our love of Jesus lead us to love our neighbors and seek their well-being.

We are also on the cusp of Advent, as we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus at Christmas but also to greet him when he comes in glory.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come. Be for us the King of kinds and Lord of lords.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

P.S. If you are looking for ways to observe Advent, check out Forward Movement’s books and other materials for the season. Order by this Saturday, November 23, to ensure delivery before the First Sunday of Advent (December 1).

More from our ministry:

Last chance to order Advent calendars for 2024!

New this year: Calendars for Christmas and Epiphany

Devotions for each Person of the Trinity: A Generous Beckoning

Sign up for free email meditations: AdventWord.org

Forward Today: Why go to church?

Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

A few years ago, I was asked to give a series of talks about why we go to church. Of course, there are lots of great reasons to go to church. We might enjoy the community or the music. Perhaps closer to the core, we do well to offer our thanks and praise to God each week.

The scriptures teach is one very specific and important reason to go to church, and this is perhaps counter-cultural. This coming Sunday’s lessons bring us crucial verses from the letter to the Hebrews:

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

We meet to encourage one another. But we also gather so that we can provoke one another. Sometimes I need someone to urge me to deeper commitment. Maybe I can offer words of encouragement or, if needed, chastening, to a fellow Christian.

Our church has to do better than “nice.” Sure, let’s be kind. But let us also hasten to provoke one other to love and good deeds, just as the scriptures call us.

We are fast approaching Advent, a whole season devoted to preparing ourselves to meet and to worship Jesus. Perhaps amidst the chaos and turmoil of this world, the quiet season of Advent is just what we need. As we focus on Jesus as our aim and our hope, we can urge others to do the same.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

P.S. Forward Movement has a whole array of resources for the season of Advent. Check them out: calendars, books, and more.

More from our ministry:

Get your “Slow Down. Quiet” calendar before Advent begins

Our ministry in numbers and stories: Annual Report 2024

Create your own rule of life: The Way of Love Practical Guide

This giving season, consider a gift subscription to Forward Day by Day

Forward Today: Jesus is Lord

Photo by Paul Keiffer on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

I’m writing this several days before the US elections, and I don’t know what will happen. The race for president looks close, and lots of state and local offices are up in the air. So this message comes without any knowledge of partisan outcomes. And that’s just as well, because for those of us who follow Jesus, some things are true regardless of who is elected to national, state, or local offices.

Perhaps the most important thing all Christians profess is this: Jesus is Lord.

That three-word creed has several implications.

If Jesus is my Lord, that means neither my nation or my national leader is my boss. Sure, it matters in all kinds of ways who serves in political leadership positions. But no president is the Savior. No president can raise the dead. No president can redeem us from sin and death.

With Jesus as my Lord, I can live fearlessly, contending with evil wherever I see it.

If I see Jesus as my Lord, then I will soon see that he is the Lord of all who follow him, even if I disagree with their politics. Jesus died to save sinners: them and us, you and me. We do well to remember that.

We have seen unprecedented levels of political violence in the USA in the last few years and months. Division seems to grow, chasms between families and neighbors ever wider. Of course, I hope we will all work for reconciliation—and all that this encompasses. I don’t think we can do it on our own. We’ll need God’s help for that.

Thanks be to God, Jesus is our mediator and advocate. And he has come to offer salvation to all who will turn to him.

In this tumultuous time, let us pray for strength, wisdom, and courage. Let us pray for whoever serves as the President of the USA. Whoever holds that job certainly needs God’s help! And let us remember that no party defines us. Nothing can defeat God’s grace and mercy. Whatever happens in our world and in our lives, Jesus is Lord.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Pray with us on the last day of the Season of Prayer

Meditations for every day: Forward Day by Day

In case you missed it: Lent Madness bracket announced

Explore our Advent and Christmas books, calendars, and more

Forward Today: The advent of Advent

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Dear friends in Christ,

It may well seem like every moment of every day is focused on the coming election. And as I wrote last week, I hope we are all praying and working for wise decisions in this time.

It’s also true that Advent is just around the corner. Whatever happens on election day, our nation will seem to grow more and more divided. Deep rifts have been laid bare. This makes Advent more important than ever.

Advent will be an excellent season to remember another time, in another nation, when violence and separation seemed to rule. And into that world came Jesus Christ, promising peace through mercy and grace. Advent also reminds us that one day Jesus will come in glory, setting right those things which are wrong, bringing healing where there are wounds, and rendering judgement on all.

I know that I am already yearning for Advent as a time to regain my perspective and to restore my sense of hope.

Forward Movement offers several resources to help you and your church savor the richness of Advent.

You can get packs of colorable Advent calendars—created by Jay Sidebotham—to support families in your church through the season.

Our newly published Advent devotional book, Show Me Your Ways, O Lord, takes us on a reflective journey through some of the psalms traditionally associated with Advent. And we offer other Advent devotional books as well.

Let us pray for peace and justice as we prepare our churches, our world, and our hearts to greet Jesus Christ.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Join our online Advent calendar: AdventWord

Pray with us for the next week: A Season of Prayer

Celebrate the Twelve Days: Colorable Christmas calendar

Follow Jesus’ way through scripture: The Way of Love Bible Challenge