In his update, Mark encourages us through Scripture, and highlights updates about events and opportunities this month. Information about highlighted events can be found in the email below.
December 3
David Rix, Moderator of the Board of Elders
Many of us consider Advent as a time of hope, faith, joy and peace. These blessings of the Christian life are often represented by lighting a candle for each blessing on the four Sundays of Advent. A fifth candle is lit on Christmas Eve representing the birth of Jesus and man’s reconciliation to God and salvation for those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
For Christians, “Hope” comes from our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior, through repentance from the sin in our lives. Our hope centers in Jesus’s second coming. This hope of Jesus’ return should manifest itself in all our circumstances, good and bad, experienced on this earth.
Some call the first candle of Advent, the candle of Hope, the “Prophet’s Candle.” Amos, a prophet from the southern kingdom of Judah, prophesied to the northern kingdom Israel. He pleaded with Israel to return to justice and righteousness. Amos 5:12 says, “There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.” And in Amos 5:21 the Lord says through Amos, “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.” There seemed to be no hope at this time. In Amos 5:20 the prophet declares, “Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light – pitch dark, without a ray of brightness.”
In the midst of this rejection of God by Israel, and then Judah, the prophets placed their hope in God. They emphasized the Messiah would come, and they emphasized God’s justice and righteousness. The last verse in Amos 5 says, “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (quoted by Rev Martin Luther King in 1963 in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”) The Psalmist in Psalm 50:3-6 says, “Our God comes and will not be silent…He summons the heavens above…And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.”
Advent is a time of hope. It is a time of waiting and expectation. It is a time of preparing ourselves to meet Jesus our Savior. If we are not ready for that, we need to repent. If we allow the darkness and loneliness of this world into our lives, or have thoughts of despair and questions of injustice, or lack of patience with our loved ones or the overwhelming desire to take things into our own hands, we need to come before our God, understand his heart, ask for his forgiveness and reset our journey on his path for our lives. Our hope will then be in Jesus, and this Christmas season will truly be filled with faith, joy and peace.