Advent: A Season of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love
“The turns in the road will be made straight and the bad places will be made smooth. Then the shining-greatness of the Lord will be seen. All flesh together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
December 1 marks the beginning of Advent for 2024, a sacred season symbolizing the current reality of the church in these “last days” (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2). During Advent, God’s people reflect on their present situation, marked by waiting, hope, and prayerful expectation for the return of Christ in glory to establish His eternal kingdom.
Today, the church’s anticipation mirrors Israel’s experience at the end of the Old Testament: a people in exile, longing for the Messiah. The Israelites, in their time of waiting, looked back to God’s miraculous deliverance in the Exodus, drawing strength and faith from His past faithfulness to call upon Him to act again.
Their cries for redemption resonate with the challenges we face today—rising global instability, economic uncertainty, natural disasters, and social unrest. The parallels between their world and ours are striking and remind us that our hope lies in God’s unwavering faithfulness.
In the same way, the church today celebrates the birth of Christ while also looking forward to the fulfillment of His promise to return and make all things new. The Advent season invites us to live in this tension between remembrance and expectation, grounding ourselves in the hope that Christ’s kingdom is both already here and still to come.
This year, as we prepare our hearts for Advent, we find ourselves amid a world fraught with conflict and suffering. Wars rage in different parts of the globe, natural disasters displace millions, and communities struggle with division and brokenness.
Yet, Advent reminds us that even in the darkest times, the light of Christ shines with unwavering brilliance. As we see headlines of despair and uncertainty, we are called to fix our eyes on the hope of the Gospel—a hope that transcends earthly turmoil.
This week, we begin Advent with a prayer of hope, trusting in God’s love, peace, and joy to sustain us through this journey:
God of hope,
be with us in our Advent journey
to the stable and beyond,
be with us in our meeting
and in our traveling together,
be with us in our worship
and our praying together,
be with us in our Advent journey
to the stable and beyond,
our God of hope.
God of hope,
Who brought love into this world,
be the love that dwells between us.
God of hope,
Who brought peace into this world,
be the peace that dwells between us.
God of hope,
Who brought joy into this world,
be the joy that dwells between us.
God of hope,
the rock we stand upon,
be the center,
the focus of our lives always
and particularly this Advent time.
This Advent, let us recommit ourselves to living as people of hope. Let us serve as beacons of God’s light, offering compassion to the hurting, peace to the anxious, and love to the lonely.
In a world desperately in need of good news, may our lives reflect the truth of Emmanuel—God with us. As we journey to the manger, may we also journey toward the fulfillment of God’s promises, trusting that His kingdom will come, and His will shall be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
May God always guide your path.