Advent 2: Voices from the Wilderness
It’s a snow day at UVa! We’ve got lots more on the ground now!
Born into slavery, Amanda Berry Smith (1837-1915) lived amidst the suffering of a broken world. She longed for God’s freedom in the here and now. But who, she wondered, would proclaim it? In prayerful listening, Smith heard God’s voice speak surprising words: “Go preach.” She writes:
I arose and got on my knees, and while I was praying these words came to me: ‘If anyone will come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ‘ And I said, ‘Lord, help me and I will.’
This unlikely evangelist, born in the wilderness of bondage, preached God’s coming throughout America, Liberia, England and even India. Like John the Baptist, she calls us to prepare the way for the Lord. The Kingdom of God is already here! Read more from Amanda Berry Smith
More for you…
Read Fleming Rutledge’s wonderful piece, “John the Baptist Points to the Real Hope of Advent” and buy her book, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Eerdmans).
Request a free 7x11 Advent Calendar. Email us at karen@theologicalhorizons.org
Follow our Advent with Theological Horizons Spotify playlist
The Oratory of Saint John the Baptist by Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni