Behind the Scenes: Our Constant Star

Learn more about The Bookery’s 2023 Advent reading plan in this interview from the author, Mandy Crow

On Sunday, our 2023 Advent Reading plan kicks off. Using an ancient hymn, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” Our Constant Star invites believers to contemplate the true beauty of the Advent season—what Jesus has done to set us free from sin and death—as they count down the days until Christmas. 

To learn more about the reading plan, the process of writing it and where the idea came from, we sat down with the author, Mandy Crow, to give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the process! 

Our Constant Star begins on December 3 and finds its starting point in an ancient hymn. Can you tell us a little more about that and where the idea for the theme came from? 

I usually try to start thinking about Advent reading theme topics early in the year and hope to have a direction by early spring so I can begin writing in the summer, usually around July and August. When I was thinking and praying about this year’s Advent reading plan, I knew I needed some sort of overarching theme or idea that would help to organize the content. Our past two Advent reading plans, Dark to Light and The Promised One, had been pretty similar in that both traced God’s promise of a Savior through the Old Testament to its fulfillment in the New Testament. I wanted this reading plan to be different. While I was working on ideas, I kept thinking about and hearing Jill Phillips and Andy Gullahorn’s modern adaptation of “O Savior of Our Fallen Race”—it’s called “You Came Down,” and you can find it on their Christmas album—kept coming to mind. When I started looking at the verses, I realized the song is incredibly theological and helps us to celebrate the wonder of Christ’s birth through the lens of what his birth, death and life accomplished. I wanted this Advent reading plan to not only celebrate the joy of Christmas, but also help us to understand why it’s important that Jesus, the Word of God, “became flesh and dwelt among us,” as John 1:14 says. Why does it matter for us as believers that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine? By using each verse as the starting point for each week’s reading, readers are able to meditate on Christ’s divinity, his purpose in coming, how he set aside his rights and privileges as God to save us, and respond with praise and worship. 

Talk to us about the format. What can readers expect from Our Constant Star?

Our Constant Star begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which happens to be Dec. 3 this year, and continues throughout the Advent season. If readers follow the plan as it's written, it will finish up on Saturday, Dec. 30, just in time for the start of a new year. 

The reading plan is divided into four weeks, and each week will begin with contemplation of the verse from “O Savior of Our Fallen Race” that will guide that week’s readings. We’ll post a guided reading plan with journaling prompts here at The Bookery Monday through Friday. If readers prefer, they can also purchase Our Constant Star in paperback or hardcover formats. (As an Amazon Associate, The Bookery earns from qualified purchases.)  

You’ve told us a little about the writing process, but we’d like to know more. What was your writing process like for Our Constant Star? 

I started the planning process earlier in the year, but I didn’t really start focusing on writing Our Constant Star until around July. I always begin with outlining the reading plan, which involves deciding which passages we’ll read and meditate on each day. After that’s done, I start actually writing. That looks like me blocking out two to four hour blocks of time when all I’m scheduled to do is write. Because The Bookery is not my full-time job, most of the time that looks like Saturday mornings or afternoons. I sit down at my desk with two Bibles (usually my trusty CSB and a NLT study bible), I open up the online tool I use to access commentaries, before I start typing I pray. 

Then, I read over the verse and start typing out meditation questions and journal prompts. Finally, I write each day’s “Ponder” section, which is a short devotional reading. After readers journal or consider each day’s questions, I want to help them focus those thoughts on a clear take-away or message. These daily devotions are designed to help better understand and apply all that you’ve read and journaled. 

Usually, when I sit down to write, I can complete three to four devotions in each four-hour session. After that, my brain is usually tired, and I need to quit for the day. I usually try to schedule writing sessions early in the day because that’s the best time for me mentally and physically. It probably took me about six weeks to complete Our Constant Star, writing mostly on Saturday mornings in four-hour blocks of time. There were some Saturdays during that July-August timeframe I couldn’t write because of other commitments, but mostly I made writing my Saturday morning commitment, so that I could focus on design in September and early October in preparation of launching Our Constant Star around The Bookery’s two-year anniversary. 

What do you hope readers get from studying Scripture with Our Constant Star as their guide? I really hope that this reading plan helps readers to celebrate Christmas with greater understanding this year. Christmas is a joyous season, but for believers, it’s a joyous time because of the shake-the-universe things Jesus did to save us, beginning with coming to earth as a helpless baby. Our Constant Star invites us to consider the deep theological implications of who Jesus is, what he has done and what it means for us. And that’s a beautiful, beautiful thing to contemplate. My hope is that somehow through my meager words, readers catch a glimpse of the all-encompassing beauty of Jesus and what he has done to set us free from sin and death.  

Want your own paperback or hardback copy? Order one. Our Constant Star devotions will be posted here beginning on Dec. 3.