Daughter of The Potter

Advent: Week One: Hope

I love Christmas. Confession: I’ve had my Christmas tree up since November 1st (I know what some of you are thinking: sinner!). But really, when I say I love Christmas, I mean it. What I love probably even more than Christmas Day is Advent. To me, Advent is what makes Christmas so beautiful and special. Advent prepares our hearts and mind for true celebration and worship.

WHAT IS ADVENT?

Advent is the four-week period leading up to Jesus Christ’s birth on Christmas Day, while also pointing to the future when Jesus will make his ultimate return. Each week during Advent, a new theme is celebrated and meditated on. These themes are: hope, peace, joy, and love. Often, at church, these themes are represented through the lighting of candles each week, corresponding with the theme. There are typically three purple candles, one pink, and one white. The white candle, being the last candle ignited, is lit on the Christmas Day service. It is during the occasion of Advent that Christians are called to a posture of eager readiness. Advent is a season of reflective anticipation—a season of waiting for the coming King’s arrival. 

Advent is a beautiful time that ushers the heart into partnership with Jesus. It reminds us that while we celebrate the arrival of Jesus’ birth, we live in the in-between, with the promise of His Second Coming. The in-between, however, is a broken world that is in desperate need of a Savoir, of a Redeemer. A world that needs unrelinquishing hope, a world that needs everlasting peace, a world that needs exuberant joy, a world that needs selfless love. A world that needs Jesus. As we meditate on the themes of Advent, we bring these motifs of God’s character and promise back into our still-suffering world. A world that is crying out for its coming Savior, the King who humbly came and will triumphantly come again. 

WEEK ONE: HOPE

On a still and silent night, the Creator of the heavens and earth gave himself humbly into the hands of common man. In the fragile form of a newborn baby, placed in a manger, the Savior of the world took his first breath, and with Him all creation breathed the breath of new life, of a promise fulfilled. 

A star burst forth in the darkness of night. A beacon of light, shining brightly. A light that would guide a fallen world to redemption. For the star shown above a manger located in a stable in the quiet town of Bethlehem. Above a baby who had just been born. Above the hope of the world. 

This star would lead the Magi, also known as the Wise Men, to the Coming King: to bring him gifts and offerings, to spread the news of hope materialized. This celestial sign, leading the Wise Men to the promise of God, reminds us of another time when God used earthly elements to guide His chosen people to his promise. 

God’s chosen people, the Israelites, served as slaves to the Egyptians for over 400 years until one brave man, by God’s power and leading, freed the captives. In desperate need of God’s guidance, we are told, “By day the LORD went ahead of them [the Israelites] in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:21-22 NIV). I can only imagine what the sight of those pillars must have been like, especially for a people who had been held prisoner for generations without hope of freedom. For a people in dire need of their God. 

Though we are not physically held captive, there are many things in our world today that can keep us hostage; Things that make us feel trapped with no end in sight, no possibility of something better. Whatever that thing is, I want you to know that there is freedom and hope. God may not be sending up smoke signals, but he is calling you to him. Those pillars were a symbol to the people that God’s presence was with them, just as he is with you today. God has given you something better than pillars of cloud and fire; he has given you the Bible, His Word, and the Holy Spirit to guide you. 

God wasn’t just leading his people down a nice paved road with convenience stores and roadside rest stops. No. The Israelites were traveling through the treacherous wilderness, full of dangers and hardships. But God never left them. Day and night, He was with them; His protective presence, covering them. This journey of life we travel through can often feel like our own treacherous wilderness, full of twists and turns and the perils of unknowns, full of hopelessness. But God desires to be intimately involved in your journey. He wishes to lead you through the valley of darkness with his constant presence and give you hope. God’s promises are good, and they are available to you. 

As with the pillars of cloud and fire, and the star that led the Wise Men, we are reminded of God’s faithfulness, his protection and guidance, and his covenantal promises. Just as the Pillars offered hope to the Israelites and the Star gave hope to the Wise Men, we can approach whatever lies ahead of us with renewed hope.

The world’s version of hope is based on menial things, a hope that is easily crushed and extinguished. The hope of God, though, that is eternal. Christmas is an opportunity for us to ease our hearts back to hope, to expectant waiting. This hope invites us to lean in, to patiently pause, and to persevere through trials. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming to restore a broken and fallen world. Jesus is coming to fulfill every promise. Jesus is coming to change our rebellion to redemption.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” 

Romans 12:12  ESV

Face the ever-present darkness with boldness, with courage, with the unchanging nature that is God, with hope.

• Facebook
• Pinterest