Advent: Hope

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love 

This Sunday marks the beginning of the Christmas season (Advent) in the church, not Black Friday, or the Santa Clause parade. We take the four Sundays leading up to Christmas to prepare and think about what it meant for Jesus to come to us, and what that means for us now.
Hope, or faith, is the act of looking forward to something that hasn’t happened just yet. It is a longing over an unanswered question, or something unfulfilled. My kids often hope for a snow day around this time of year, while I long for the longer days and warmer weather of Spring (I know, I know, winter hasn’t even started yet and already I’m looking for it be over!). We can also hope for loved ones to return, a new job to come through for us, or for someone to get better. But in every case we’re hoping and longing for  something better. We are unsatisfied, incomplete, and looking to be whole.

In the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible that tells the story of the people of Israel, they were looking and hoping for a Messiah, someone to come and rescue them and lead them to freedom. They wanted a mighty king to come and lead them in battle to defeat their enemies and set them free from oppression. And God did promise them that a Messiah would come, but He wouldn’t be anything like what they were hoping for or expecting.  

This is often the case for us. We hope for an answer to our problems, and think that it will turn out like we planned, but often it doesn’t. Does this mean that God doesn’t hear us, or want what’s best for us? Not at all. God’s plan for us is perfect, and will come about at the perfect time, but we need to be patient, keep on hoping and looking for God to act. The Jewish people were hoping for a strong warrior king as their Messiah, but instead got a helpless baby born to outsiders. He may not have been what they were hoping for, but He was exactly what they needed. And He still is for us today.

Blessings, Pastor Mike