The Holy in the Night: Finding Freedom in a Season of Waiting
Ebook
Overview
Listen for the voice of God.
If you approach this Advent season waiting for something—in your life, in your family or community, or in a fractured world—you are not alone. This season reminds us that our waiting is not wasted. Even in our longest nights, divine work endures. What if we were free enough to do the same?
Drawing on lectionary scripture readings from the Old and New Testaments and the voices of Black and Brown modern-day prophets, author Shannon Dycus offers reflections for each day of the season. Her meditations stretch open possibilities for faithfulness during silence, ambivalence, doubt, and unknowing. This Advent, accept the invitation to witness and know the presence of God amid waiting. Give voice to freedom, grace, struggle, and beauty—to see again the ways that God emerges in this inward season.
Introduction
Using This Devotional
An Invitation to the Song
O holy night: The possibility of freedom
Day 1: i am free to unlearn.
Day 2: i am free to breathe deeply
Day 3: i am free to . . . not know
Day 4: a prayer for new edges
Day 5: i am free to have many parts
Day 6: Sermonette: Job and Job’s Wife:
The stars are brightly shining: Tools for the night
Day 7: i am free to turn
Day 8: in the wilderness, i am free
Day 9: i am free to look back
Day 10: a prayer desiring to move differently
Day 11: i am free to question
Day 12: Sermonette: Oil and Grace, Tools for Our Faith
It is the night: Dwelling in the truth
Day 13: a prayer for calling it what it is
Day 14: in the waters, i am free
Day 15: i am free to be still
Day 16: a prayer to celebrate the goodness i cannot see
Day 17: i am free in complicated feelings
Day 18: Sermonette: Confession as a Dwelling Practice
In sin and error pining: Longing for a Savior
Day 19: in the dark, they are free
Day 20: with fragmented hopes, i am free
Day 21: i am free to be authentic
Day 22: a prayer for the Spirit’s freedom
Day 23: i am free to worry and hope
Day 24: Sermonette: God’s Hope for the Future
The weary soul rejoices: God with us
Day 25: i am free to wait . . .
Day 26: i am free to sing new truths
Day 27: i am free to celebrate
Day 28: a prayer to be the Word
Day 29: i am free and grace-full
Day 30: Sermonette: Power to the People, Power in the People
A new and glorious morn: Dawning in our spirits
Day 31: i am free to imagine the Christmas my body needs
Day 32: i am free to struggle
Day 33: i am free to hold the ordinary
Day 34: a prayer for wisdom
Day 35: i am free to look for Light
Day 36: Sermonette: Love Dawning
A Prayer for this Season and the Next
Small Group Guide
Notes
The Author
“The Holy in the Night is a profound Advent devotional that invites us to listen, find safe space for lament, and breathe deeply as we connect our prayers to our very breath. As a Black woman theologian, Shannon W. Dycus writes from her own lived experiences as a spiritual director, pastor, mother, spouse, and educator, reclaiming her divinity and freedom. This book not only draws from the biblical narrative but also amplifies the voices of contemporary prophets like Zora Neale Hurston, Audre Lorde, and Cherríe Moraga, recognizing their contributions as carriers of God’s still-speaking voice. Using passages from both the Old and New Testaments—many of them challenging ones—as well as modern texts, Dycus invites readers to engage with the complexities of faith while centering the sacred voices that reside in darkness.”
“Reading Shannon Dycus’s Advent devotional is like watching a gardener describe the warm texture of soil from which faith is born. Through poems, narratives, familiar biblical stories, and wise companions, Dycus draws the reader into a season of the church life that is both longing and freedom. Her reflections break through our layers of everyday exhaustion and lead us to look, listen, and wonder: What is God doing now?”
“This is a book for all of us who long for a better future while slogging through the world as it is, trudging along with our lives as they are. Shannon Dycus invites us into a posture of patience, of prayer—to notice our breath and wait for God. Because to be where we are is to dwell in the presence of God.”
“The Holy in the Night offers a grace-filled invitation to dwell in holy darkness during a sometimes too-bright season; it offers a challenging reminder of our freedom in Christ just when we may feel most confined by expectations. Dycus’s reflections, sermonettes, and poetic prayers can help us move through the Advent and Christmas season with renewed attention to the One we anticipate and celebrate.”
“In using a staple of many a Christmas playlist to reframe and renew the season of Advent, Shannon W. Dycus is offering us some profound insights. The first one that grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go: ‘Marketing and capitalism say go extravagant; Advent says there is value in simple gifts. Advent is resistance.’ Alongside such bold claims, Dycus also gently shows us how to interpret our context in harmony with the ancient context that gifted us with our scriptures as well as with a nineteenth-century vision of abolition and emancipation that she invites us to make our own today.”
“The Holy in the Night fills the much-needed void for Advent devotionals that elevate Black and Brown voices. It is useful for personal and congregational use as we all learn to wait. Shannon Dycus’s devotional leads us to wait for Christmas, as we all wait in our current Advent, for our incarnate Lord to come again.”
“Shannon Dycus guides the reader with a beautiful combination of pastoral care, keen scholarship, and an eye on the beauty and complexity of the twenty-first century. Dycus assures us that the Advent journey—our movement toward God—welcomes our fears and our hopes, our joys and our sorrows.”
“Shannon Dycus has written a timely and compelling Advent devotional that connects the ancient lessons of Scripture with the everyday lives of Jesus followers. For those looking to slow down, follow an accessible daily devotional, and connect with God during the Advent season, The Holy in the Night is for you!”
- Title: The Holy in the Night: Finding Freedom in a Season of Waiting
- Author: Shannon Dycus
- Publisher: Herald Press
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Pages: 192
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781513813219, 9781513813202, 151381320X, 1513813218
- Resource ID: LLS:9781513813219
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-11-06T02:56:52Z
Shannon W. Dycus is vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and author of the women’s Bible study Every Time I Feel the Spirit with Herald Press. She was previously copastor at First Mennonite Church in Indianapolis, supporting the spiritual formation of that community through preaching and teaching. Shannon holds a degree in secondary education from Butler University and received her master of divinity from Christian Theological Seminary. With passion for holistically journeying with people, Shannon is also a trained spiritual director through San Francisco Theological Seminary. Shannon is active in writing and worship development roles with Mennonite Church USA.