Something we can't live without.

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/35ede34c/something-we-cant-live-without-advent-hope

Today is the first day of Advent - a time we anticipate Christ’s first coming as a baby born to save the world, and also his second coming, when all things will be set right. This is a season of true hope for all the world. 

Holidays always bring up different sorts of memories--even seemingly small ones. Last year, whilst struggling with a tangle of lights I was trying to put up on my porch, Michael W. Smith Christmas tunes1 playing nearby, I met my neighbor Princess, (from Sierra Leone), who was walking slowly, kinda' limping. Getting off the ladder, I greeted her and learned she was recovering from knee replacement surgery. We exchanged a few words, and in short order, I prayed for her. And now--one year later? I put up her lights before my own.

At the time, I had no idea the weight she carried, but the Lord knew and prompted me

with these words of Paul as I prayed over her that morning:

May the God of hope 

fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Christ, Princess,

so that you may overflow with hope

through the power of the Holy Spirit.2

Amen!

We hugged each other and promised to meet up again, and we have regularly. 'Turns out one of Princess' daughters died while giving birth, so she and her husband (crippled from a stroke and dementia) are raising now 10-year-old Xander, who struggles from a very premature birth.3 But Princess knows God and looks to him for strength daily.

She knows that God is the Source of our Hope! 

We can know joy and peace through relationship with Jesus.

[Before I move on, I want to remind us that God often presents us with ways to serve Him by serving someone right in front of us, like Princess! Again, may seem small - no one is watching, but there are no small things to God.]

Because I did not grow up in a faith tradition that recognized Advent, I have eagerly grabbed ahold of the wonderful opportunity it is for our own journeys with God. Yes, Jesus came as a baby born to save us which is beyond wonderful, but I also appreciate being increasingly mindful of Christ's return ~ the Blessed Hope of all who trust in him. 

I am taken with this brilliant insight of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come."⁴  That is all of us, is it not? Furthermore, each day I want to look forward to something greater to come. So, yes - Mr. Bonhoeffer, sign me up for Advent! [By the way, Eric Metaxas' biography of Bonhoeffer is the best biography I have ever read. When I was on about page 132, I was already sad the book would come to an end, though it has 624 pages!]

But wait - your attention? This will require something. . . it might mean we need to disconnect ourselves and give God some quiet, that we obey God who said:

Be still, and know that I am God.⁵

A Prayer: O God of hope, help me be still ~ to quiet my mind, my phone and other devices, to look to you with an open heart and mind, with a spirit that longs to know your presence. During this Advent season, I want to make room for you.  I will watch for you, open your Word, longing to hear from you. My hope is in you, Messiah, living Lord and coming King! Amen. 

God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,

to the woman who diligently seeks.

It’s a good thing to quietly hope,

    quietly hope for help from God.6  

I'm wondering--if you had an internal hope meter, where would yours register today? And if you are dipping low, how can you be filled anew with HOPE? hmmm...

Since these are the first days of Advent ~ centered on hope, let us make room for the Lord and prepare our hearts for the perfect Christmas babe.  And the best Christmas celebrations always include music, so I bring you this song, Prepare Him Room. (also in the above podcast)

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLQFpzRtTFw&list=RDBLQFpzRtTFw&start_radio=1

Praying hope is welling up in you!

with love,

Christine

1 - Michael W. Smith Christmas, 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQwNUfeIVVA&list=PL-TAvZw87bQ0J4pFXDB_Y5MbtpoYjtvxh

2 - Romans 15.13

3 - Why do I tell you stories like this--to make myself sound righteous? No, not at all, I actually hesitate to include them - but my point in recounting such meetings is to show you the power of the hope of God, extending it to others and praying it over them

4 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer a brilliant man of God who died a martyr's death at the hand of the Nazis

5 - Psalm 46.10 

6 - Lamentations 3.25-26, The Message