December Sharings

What are you hoping for? What are you waiting for? What do you anticipate? Those questions come to us during the season of Advent. Advent means coming, Christ coming into our lives. What do we really think is about to happen in this sacred season that will be unlike other times of the year?
Most of us spend a lot of time waiting. We wait in traffic; we wait in lines in stores; we wait for sunshine after days of wet and gloomy weather; we wait for friends and family; we wait for answers to our deepest questions; we wait for God to do something about a concern that we have. Sometimes waiting is all we can do, and our hearts become heavy from all the waiting.

In the Gospel of Luke we read that Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary were engaged in a particular kind of waiting. Zechariah and Elizabeth were promised a son who would be named John. Mary was to give birth to a son named Jesus. All three were waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Zechariah describes what he is waiting for in Luke 1:78-79: “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

We’re about to enter the most joyous and sacred season of the year, but also a season filled with stressful activity. Whether we are rushing about or waiting in silence, let us be alert to the presence of the Christ who fulfills God’s greatest promises. As we wait in hope, may we live in anticipation for the light that is about to break forth.

Faithfully,
Pastor Tom