1. AN ADVENT AMONG OTHER THINGS: HOPE IN CHRIST

Sunday, December 1^st

(You may appreciate having a small practice to serve as a daily reminder in this Advent time. As we reflect on our hope in Christ this week, I plan to light a candle and remember Jesus as our light of hope.)

As we begin this Advent week of Hope, what does it mean for us to first find our hope in Christ? How does Jesus—through his life and love—give us our reason for hope?

My thoughts immediately turn to his resurrection, of course, and the hope that comes in knowing that God’s love defeats even death. But I also find hope in the way Jesus lived his life. Even with the threats, scorn, sorrows, and hardships that he faced, he continued to trust in God’s infinite love. Jesus even assured his followers not to worry. “Look at the birds of the air… Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?” * He not only heard the needs of others and helped and healed them, but he also promised that his helping and healing presence would be with us yet today.

In all of life, Jesus saw beyond what was; he understood his circumstances with a deeper peace and wisdom. He recognized there was something more to this ordinary and often difficult life, and he lived in this eternal hope.

And my greatest reason for this hope in Christ comes from those inexplicable moments when I sense surprising hope overwhelming me, an abiding hope that comes from beyond myself.

Let’s carry these hope-filled words with us this week:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it… And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. *

God, the Creator of the infinite universe… God, the One who is timeless… God, the ever-present Source of Love… God, the Reason for our Hope, is dwelling here with us now, shining with an eternal hope to light our way.

* Bible verses are Matthew 6:26-27 and John 1:5,14 NRSVUE
Photo by Karen