The Greatest Song to Lead Biola’s 2024 Advent Project

LA MIRADA, CALIF. - Biola University's 2024 Advent Project will begin on Saturday, November 30, launching the 12th anniversary of the annual Biola Advent Project. Biola's Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts (CCCA) has produced a unique, arts-oriented digital devotional series for many Advent seasons. With over 60,000 subscribers globally, the online Advent guide invites participants into a rhythm of reflection and anticipation, encouraging recipients to slow down and meditate on the gospel story and the person of Jesus Christ during the Christmas season.

"Advent is a time when we, amidst the challenges and mundanities of our lives, pause to reflect on, anticipate and celebrate the incarnation of Jesus. The incarnation is a profoundly wondrous, even bizarre, reality," said Biola President, Barry H. Corey.

This year's project theme is "The Greatest Song: An Advent Meditation On Love," based on the book of the Bible, Song of Songs. Though an unconventional book to read through during Advent, the prominent theme of God's unconditional, pursuing love for his beloved fits the Christmas season considering God's love was made manifest in the incarnation of Christ.

"The Song is the story of a profound reciprocity -- God's unconditional love for us and in return, the offering of our love back to Him. What makes the Song so appealing is the exclusive, personal nature of the relationship described -- one of mutual, shared yearning," Barry Krammes, emeritus professor of art and creator of the Advent Project, shared in this year's project introduction.

Each devotional will highlight key passages from the Song of Songs with familiar Christmas passages and other relevant Scriptures. Members of the Biola community have contributed to the project by writing daily devotionals and providing pieces of visual art, poetry or music. The CCCA hopes that the synergy of written and visual elements will be edifying for participants as they take the time to contemplate the love of God in Christ this Christmas.

December 1 marks the first day of Advent, which is when the project will launch and continue through January 6, the first day of Epiphany.

For more information or media interviews, contact Sarah Dougher at [email protected] or (310) 753-1193.

Written by Katelyn Ho, Strategic Communication Assistant. For more information, contact the Office of Media Relations at [email protected] .