Advent Week 1 – Hope

Do you ever feel like Charlie Brown? In the midst of the Christmas decorations that have been up since Halloween, the Christmas songs stuck in your head, the lights and shopping and cookies and parties—do you ever want to just stand up and shout in exasperation like Charlie Brown, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!”

It wasn’t until Linus recited the Christmas Story as found in Luke 2 that Charlie Brown found hope. Today I invite you to hear the same words of hope as we enter the season of Advent in expectation for Christmas. Over the next four weeks, we will unwrap the gifts of Christmas as we journey through the Advent season. It is our chance to listen to the stories, to remember the true meaning of Christmas, to wait in expectation for the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The point is not to get rid of the trappings and traditions and celebrations all around us but to take a purposeful journey through them to more deeply experience the gifts of Christmas: hope, love, peace, and joy.

Advent is not a celebration that God comes to fix things—from broken computers to broken families to broken and hurting lives. Rather, simply, Advent is a celebration that God comes. In the darkness, in the pain, in the chaos, He comes. And He makes a way.

And that gives us hope. Hope in a world full of darkness. Hope in a nation torn apart by hate, political divisions, and apathy. Hope in a community overcome with poverty, addictions, and brokenness.

You see, 2,000 years ago the world seemed very dark. People had lost all hope. Political infighting, poverty, hatred; people had given up all hope. And then Jesus came. Jesus, who created the world, came to the world He created to give hope.

Isaiah 9:2 (ESV) says– “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” And while that passage speaks about those in Bethlehem, it speaks to us today. Amid Holiday hustle, light has come. The gift of Hope is here if you will only unwrap it.

Adam Will is the Lead Pastor of Mt. Hermon United Brethren in Christ Church. The Church is located at 36411 Wickham Road, Pomeroy, Ohio. Their Sunday Worship Service is at 10:30 AM. For more information about Mt. Hermon and it’s ministries, check out their website at www.mounthermonub.org or find them on Facebook.