Daily Prayer - The Hope of Advent

Good Monday morning, my friends.

 

Yesterday saw the beginning of Advent - the four week period before Christmas. 

The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent.

 

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought deliverance!

 

It is that hope, however faint at times, and that God, however distant He sometimes seems, which brings to the world the anticipation of a King who will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and in His creation. It is that hope that once anticipated, and now anticipates anew, the reign of an Anointed One, a Messiah, who will bring peace and justice and righteousness to the world.

 

(http://www.cresourcei.org/cyadvent.html)

The first candle of Advent is the candle of Hope. We light this candle to remind us that our hope is in Jesus and to watch for His return.

 

 

Grace and peace and hope be yours in abundance,

Bruce

Loving God, we thank You for the hope You give us.

As we worship You this morning draw out of us the darkness of the world, and fill us with the light of hope.

Help us to prepare our hearts for the Lord's coming.

We ask in the name of the One born in Bethlehem.

Amen.

 

(http://www.creakings.net/jean/staugustine/adventcandles.html)