Pocket-Sized Peace for all!

Comfort and Joy is an advent devotional that draws your attention to God's surprising presence and action in the Advent and Christmas seasons. With devotions from the first Sunday of Advent (11/29) to Epiphany (1/6), this devotional will help you pause, reflect, ponder, and pray through this season of preparation and celebration. May Christ's presence and promise send us out to share the good news, bringing comfort and joy to all the world!

In this blog, you will find ways to use and share this devotional with the many folks who would enjoy it!

How to use this daily devotional:

• Daily personal reflection – Use to center yourself daily in the messages of the season alongside your morning cup of coffee, in the line at the post office, before bed, or any other moment in your busy day!
• Daily family point of connection – Gather as a family and read the daily devotion each day! Together, you can read, ponder, pray, and even sing as you find connection and peace in this practice.
• Staff meeting devos– Consider opening or closing your staff meetings with the daily entry from this devotional. Center in on the presence and action of God in your work together. At Augsburg Fortress, we meet for 5 minutes every weekday morning to listen to the devo of the day – maybe that will work for you too!
• Confirmation small or large group opening or closing – Short yet substantial, these devos are the perfect opener or closer to a confirmation lesson. Whether in large or small groups, participants will get a chance to a) make faith a daily practice and b) practice reading aloud in front of peers!

Who is this devotional for?

• Individuals
• Families
• Churches – Members and staff!
• Campus Ministries
  • “In my college years, these devotionals offered a moment of peace each day amidst the business and stress of undergrad life. My campus ministry offered them every year, and every year I looked forward to them—including having a friend mail me one during a semester I was off campus! I miss the ease of accessing those moments of peace and the community surrounding it when many of my friends were reading it alongside me throughout the season. Each daily message was relevant, authentic, diverse, and filled with compassion, and I appreciated starting each day with a more open and peaceful perspective.” - Sanna B., Luther College ’20
    
• Patients in or frequenting a medical facility
• Residents of assisted living facilities
• Visitors or residents of shelters of all sorts
  

Ideas for sharing this devotional

• Place by doors, in common areas, high traffic locations – wherever someone’s gaze might land upon them.
• Have the young ones in your worship help you pass a devotional out to each congregant in the pews during a children’s sermon.
• Pass them out as an exit ticket item as kids are picked up from Sunday School.
• Gift to confirmation students with a prayer of peace so that they might find in this devo a moment of faith-filled peace in their busy lives.
• Offer to those gathered for community-centered meetings in your spaces.
• Send in care-kits to college students and homebound members.

What is in the promo pack?

Each seasonal devotional is accompanied by a promo pack that includes biographical information about the contributors and resources to a) help you get the word out and distribute these devotionals, and b) engage deeper with the devo through additional materials and activities.

• Activity Sheets for kids - Engage deeper with the themes of Comfort and Joy: Devotions for Advent and Christmas 2026-2027 with these activities for the young and young-at-heart!
• Ready-to-use mid-week services - These ready-to-use mid-week services follow the themes of the devotional and take a planning task off your plate.
• Bulletin inserts - These 5.5x8.5 inserts are ready-to-use and available in full-color or black and white.
• Posters - These 8.5x11 and 11x17 posters announce that devos are ready to pick up.
• Presentation slides - Ready to add to your announcement slide line-up!
• Newsletter announcements - You've written the rest of the newsletter - let us take care of this section!
• Social Media images - Want to share about the devotionals online? We've got you covered. Use these pre-made posts and add your church's details in the caption.
• Daily prayers - Want a summary of themes in the devotional from the past week? Here is the prayer from each day to give you direction for sermons, conversations, lessons, and more.
• Hymn and Anthems for each entry - Enrich your prayer or worship with these musical suggestions. Meditate upon or sing a hymn or listen to an anthem chosen to reflect the devotion’s theme.
  

Links:

Promo pack for Comfort and Joy: Devotions for Advent and Christmas 2026-2027

Comfort and Joy: Devotions for Advent and Christmas 2026-2027