When do we most need hope?
In hopelessness.
That is when we feel lack of hope most acutely. It is when we need to have our eyes opened to real hope.
“A prison cell in which one waits, hopes,…
and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom
has to be opened from the outside,
is not a bad picture of Advent.”
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer
That is what this first week of Advent is all about. Hope.
Anticipating, longing, looking ahead, believing that the fulfillment of promises and prophecies are yet to come.
I love these simple perspectives and tips for observing Advent, even in a family with little (messy, fussy, short-attentioned!) children.
“Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light,
now in the time of this life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility;
So that, at the last day, when He shall come again
in His glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal.”
–The Book of Common Prayer
I am pulling out our Advent wreath, our Advent calendar, and a huge amount of chocolates.
Soon, other Christmas-is-coming boxes will be brought up from the basement, as we slowly see hope fulfilled by the advancing of Christmas.
May God give us eyes to see and ears to hear. May He make us awake and ready.
May He give us hope because of Jesus.
Amen <3