Advent Hope

Advent 2020

The day before the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce the imminent coming of Messiah, it had been 400 years since a prophet had spoken to Israel. 400 years – about how long 2020 has felt. The people of Israel had mostly given up on *the Messiah* and were mostly happy to back whatever insurrectionist mini-Messiah promised freedom from Roman oppression. These people were waiting, but they had also mostly given up hope of any real change.

And that’s how I feel this year. The election came and went – but it remains to be seen what will actually change. COVID has gone on and on, and many experts are telling us that the worst days (at least nationally) might be ahead of us rather than behind. Many of us have gone into a sort of numb survival mode – going to work, buying groceries, mostly staying in a responsibly small bubble of people. We’re waiting, but our waiting feels mostly flat – without any real anticipation.

And that’s why we need Advent. We need to reflect deeply on the fact that we’re not the first people who didn’t see a clear path forward. We need to stand in the shoes of those folks who lived before Christ’s appearing and remember that God was about to fulfill the promises of hundreds of years in ways more wonderful than any of them could imagine. Advent is a time to wait, but it’s also a time to recharge our hope. God is relentlessly faithful, unexpectedly generous, deeply kind and good. As we look to the coming year, Advent is the time to drink in the Holy Spirit’s whisper of the society of justice and joy that is already growing among us and will one day be fulfilled in the renewal of all things.

And we’re going to do this together: on four Wednesday nights at 6:30pm starting November 25th, we’re going to study the Scriptures and themes of Advent. We’ll pray together, put ourselves in the story of those who waited for Messiah’s coming, and recharge our hope as we look to the ways that we need Christ to show up in this coming year. Yes, it’s on zoom, and I know you don’t want to do another zoom call – but this one matters. This is the spiritual exercise that our community needs, and I’m asking you to muster up just enough trust to click the link and do the work of being a people of hope together.

https://zoom.us/j/96988258779