Advent: The Promise of Hope - Sunday, December 1
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:1-5
Advent is the season of waiting and looking forward to a celebration. Essentially, it is all about hope.
While hope is, generally, forward-focused, it can also mean looking back. Especially around Advent, we reflect on the goodness we have already received - the Savior born in the manger who died, was buried, and rose again - and let it help us to anticipate what is still to come - Jesus' mighty return.
At Lutheran Indian Ministries, we are in the business of hope.
Many of the Native brothers and sisters we meet in the mission field are broken and lost. They have lived through abuse - from others or self-inflicted - and often reflecting on their lives does not bring hope for tomorrow but despair in having to endure another day. But through a variety of programs, our ministry staff helps them to see their story, and their acceptance of it, as a step toward healing and the acknowledgment of what they have overcome. In the same way, Jesus' birth was a step toward our restored relationship with the Father.
This Christmas season, I pray that you would be able to see the story of Jesus' birth as the promise of hope and reflect on the goodness you have already received from the Father with anticipation for the amazing gift you will receive in eternity.
Dear Heavenly Father, help me to spend the next four weeks appreciating the amazing gift I received when Jesus was born that first Christmas and celebrating the hopeful joy of Jesus' second coming and the gift of eternity with You. In His name, we pray. Amen.