Advent Week 1: Hope

The following is material I prepared for our church community. It is comprised of a short essay regarding the first week of Advent focusing on hope, followed by a community responsive prayer, then by a devotional to help people go deeper in the experience of Advent and the Christmas season.

This is the first Sunday of Advent. Our first Advent word is "hope." This is a word that we often use synonymously with the word "wish," as in "I hope the Canucks win the Stanley Cup." That is certainly more of a wish than a hope. A wish usually is a pining for something that is probably not possible, probably not going to happen. Whereas the word hope has much more a sense of a positive looking forward, a more solid assurance that something is going to happen. When hope solidifies it becomes faith. The author of Hebrews says that "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The nature of our faith is that it, in large part, is faith in things that we hope for but are not yet seen.

The people of Israel spent centuries hoping for the promised Advent or coming of the Messiah. In Luke chapter 2 we read the story of when Jesus' parents brought the child Jesus into the temple he was met by two old saints who had been steadfastly hoping for, looking forward to, the advent of the Messiah. When Simeon held the Christ child in his hands and felt the weight of the realization of his hope come true, he prayed to God and said "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation." He was so excited to see and hold what he had hoped for for so long. Then there was Anna, the 84-year-old woman, who was also there. She had lived in the Temple for some 60 odd years. She spent this time worshiping, praying, fasting, and hoping for the Messiah. When she saw Jesus, Luke reports that she "began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who are looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." Can you imagine – such hope and longing finally fulfilled!

As we approach Christmas, we too live in this kind of solid hope. We know that Jesus has already come in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. Our hope is directed toward the future, toward his second coming, toward our entry into heaven and

all its fullness, of seeing him, being with him, like Simeon and Anna, face to face. In the meantime, we hope for a deeper intimacy in our relationship with Jesus, that he would come to us in a fuller way. We hope to experience his presence, embrace and voice more deeply, to walk more closely with him. This is our hope.

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Community Prayer: Hope

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Oh Lord, our hope is in you.

Just as Simeon longed and hoped for the day when he would be in your presence,

Oh Lord, our hope is in you.

Just as Anna worshiped, prayed, and fasted hoping to see your coming,

Oh Lord, our hope is in you.

Lord, we watch with anticipation, hoping for your second coming.

Oh Lord, our hope is in you.

Lord, we long and hope for the day when we will see you face-to-face, when you yourself will dwell with your people, where you will be with us and wipe every tear from our eyes, where death will be no more, where mourning and crying and pain will cease forever.

Oh Lord, our hope is in you.

We hope and long for a closer walk with you here and now, in deeper intimacy, like a branch connected to the vine, like a lamb held close to the heart of the shepherd, like a child sitting in the embrace of her Abba father.

Oh Lord, our hope is in you

Come Lord Jesus, come.

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Going Deeper During Advent: a journey with God in hope, peace, joy and love

Advent Week 1: Hope

In this first week of Advent we are focusing on the word “Hope.” Just as God is our only true source of peace, joy, and love (the other three words we will be focusing on in this Advent season), so too he is our only source of Hope. Hope arrived on earth in the person of Jesus on that first Christmas day.

1. Spend a minute in silence, sitting and relaxing in God’s presence, becoming aware of the Holy Spirit with you, in you.

2. Read Isaiah 40:31

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

3. Spend a few minutes meditating on the image of an eagle soaring, effortlessly floating on a warm thermal. Imagine what that would feel like.

4. What are you hoping for in and from the Lord in this season? And what is the health of your hope - how is it doing? Does it feel like an eagle soaring, or something else? Spend some time talking to the Lord about this.

5. Journal about this, talk with a friend or family member about it.