Welcome to the Waiting Room: Week 4
Advent is a season of hoping, waiting, yearning, and preparing, but for what or whom and how? These are some of the themes explored in this Advent series. The word “advent” is from the Latin adventus; it means “arrival” or an awaited coming. It’s a season of big promises. We wonder, “Will God keep ancient promises or has God forgotten
Advent is a season largely forgotten by our culture of immediate gratification, and likewise we’ve forgotten what it means to wait well. In all of this waiting, God is creating desire within us. And we trust it’s worth the wait. Along the way, there are a few things for which we’re not yet ready, because when God comes close it’s almost always accompanied by surprise or scandal.
This is God’s story. This is our story. Welcome to the season of Advent.
Week 4 Homework: Cradle Our Hopes
For the sake of loving us, God comes to us at the very center of scandal, both in the cradle and on the cross. This is what it looks like when God comes close: humble and vulnerable. In Jesus, God is bringing about the dream for mending families and relationships, nations at war, the environment and all of creation. Now that’s good news for all people.
Are you willing to lay your hopes on this child born of scandal? It seems like a lot for just a little baby. But this is no ordinary child. So what are your hopes for the world, for your family, and for your life? Write down your greatest hopes and bring them to church next Sunday to add to the prayer wall in the sanctuary. Place them in the hands of a child, the One who is Emmanuel, God-With-Us.
You may pray this simple prayer as part of your time of reflection this week.
Oh Emmanuel, cradle our fragile hopes as we place our trust in you.
AMEN.
