Advent Day One

2020 has revealed what life can be like when you remove expectation and anticipation from your calendar. Many are struggling from months of disruption to schedules and plans. Millions of people grieve the loss of loved ones. In our nation alone, 91,000 are in the hospital struggling to breathe. As I talk with friends and pray with our church members, it seems like anything that was a struggle in the background of one's life before the pandemic has now taken center stage.

The list of center stage struggles is long: mental health, financial hardships, loneliness, struggling marriages, job loss, addictions, past trauma, grief, physical health, parenting difficulties and it goes on. But here we are friends, at the end of a strange, sad and difficult year. We now have almost a month ahead of us to enter into a season in which our attention can be drawn to hope. Not a hope that ignores the reality of our suffering world, but hope that orients us toward a God who sent his Son into this world.

As this year reveals what happens when we step out of our normal patterns of life, it’s a gift to be reminded of the role anticipation plays in our spiritual lives. The God of hope designed us to be hope-filled beings. But he didn’t just create us to be idealistic dreamers, rather he entered this fragile human life to dwell with us in order to initiate the great hope of salvation and restoration of the world.

Let’s set aside at least a few moments each day to draw our attention to the hope of the Christmas story. In the midst of the many challenges this year has brought to the surface, the Creator of the world came to dwell with humanity. To dwell within us. For what purpose? To what end? Let’s allow our imaginations to entertain those questions for a few moments today as we open ourselves up to anticipation and longing for Christ to restore all things.