2020: Light a Candle for Hope

Hello Beloved! Seasons change swiftly. Not so long ago we were in full preparation for Thanksgiving. Now, we are googling turkey left-over recipes! Sunday, November, 29, 2020 marked the beginning of advent. Advent, meaning “coming”, is a time when the Church remembers the first arrival of its savior, Jesus the Christ, and looks forward to His second coming. Each Sunday, in the month of December, a candle is lit and Scriptural reflection is shared to celebrate four major Biblical expectations that became flesh in Jesus Christ: hope, peace, joy and love. Join us as we reflect on how we can eat and drink in a manner that makes Jesus, who gives us hope, peace, joy and love known. 

"So then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of [our great] God." 
(1 Corinthians 10:31, AMP). 
[Read in context: 1 Corinthians 10: 20 - 31, AMP] 

Light a Candle for Hope
Hope is the expectation of a better future tethered only to the reality of who God is. It is a believer grasping to the intangible based on a knowledge of who God is and what He has promised. When we survey His Word and take into account all that He has assured us is yes and amen in Jesus Christ, we cannot help but be moved to offer up thanksgiving. (2 Corinthians 1:20). There is no greater expression of thanksgiving than a life surrendered totally to Him: a life that is colored and perfumed by His very presence and character so that in things great and small He is made known. (Romans 12:1). 

It is because He is our hope that we surrender all things now. It is because we’ve believed (relied on) His finished work that we have a future that will not disappoint. (Proverbs 23:17 - 18). And we live in light of what He has done and with anticipation of what He will do each day. We eat and drink in a way that shows we’ve been with Him and that it is He alone on which we wait. (1 Corinthians 10:31). In our choices about what and when and with whom and how we eat and drink, we seek to be like He is: loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. (Galatians 5:22 - 23). We are always declaring the worth of what has been done and what is to come-our victorious King! 

Reflect:
We love to sing the hymn, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”. Its words are a bold declaration of our surety in God, the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and the effectiveness of His help in our day-to-day lives, along with our expectation that His record will not be tarnished when we close our eyes to this side of Jordan. We believe that He will do what He has said and be who He has been, eternally. This belief is the basis of our hope. Our expectation for a better tomorrow is based on WHAT He has said and WHO He has been. His very existence is our anchor. How can you be purposeful about cultivating hope during this season? Here is an idea to get you started:

•  Commit to immersing yourself in the Christmas story this advent.  Read the two accounts of Jesus’ birth in the New Testament: Matthew 1 - 2 and Luke 1 - 2:40. Gather with a loved one (s) via Zoom or some other medium to read and reflect on the story and significance of His first coming over a shared meal. Here is an example of how you can do this with others:

• Decide on the dates you will meet this advent.
• Give everyone the chance to identify one recipe they dearly love or would love to try, along with the accompanying grocery list. Have everyone share the choices and then decide on a number of recipes equal to the number of dates you have decided to meet.
• Prepare your meals in advance of your gathering. At the start, open with check-ins and prayer. Follow this with a celebration of your beautiful plates, offering up audible gratitude for the kindness of God in making your meals and gathering possible. 
• Rest with God and in others' presence. Don’t rush! Enjoy, with some seasonally appropriate songs in the background.
• After you’ve all eaten, go into reading the first part (you make use the section headings as markers for dividing the reading) of the nativity Scriptures. You may appoint one person to read it aloud or you may take turns reading.
• At the close of each reading ponder these questions in your hearts and then share with each other: 

• Where is there evidence of longing in the readings? What is being longed for? How do you know?
• Why does this longing exist? [Hint: Have the people you encounter as you read been given a promise? If yes, what is it? Where in Scripture is this promise first given? Where is it repeated?]
• How do those who long wait? What do they think? What do they feel? What do they do? How do they struggle?
• How are the longings of those who wait satisfied?
• When the longings are satisfied, how do the people respond?
• How is the faithfulness of God on display in these readings?
• How does God’s past faithfulness inspire your hope for tomorrow?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the hope that we have in your only begotten son, Jesus Christ. We thank you that after years of prophecies, those who waited on You were not put to shame. You arrived via the Virgin Mary in a manger as a babe, lived a holy life, died for our sins and rose on the third day victorious over sin, death and the grave. We thank You for giving us your Holy Spirit to live out our identity as your beloved children-the very righteousness of You in Christ Jesus. We pray for wisdom about how to honor You in everything that we do. We surrender all our lives, including how we approach eating and drinking as a platform for your great love to be put on display. Show us how to walk out, even the most minute details of our lives, in light of our great salvation and your future return. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 
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Learn more about the biblical definition of hope: via this Bible Project video: