HOPE
Hope might be described as a confident expectation or desire for something good. In difficult times, hope gives us something to anchor ourselves too. Christian hope finds its foundation in the gift of Christ to a broken world in need of restoration. This Advent season we wait with sensitivity toward a world that is hurting and hungry.
Long before the arrival of Jesus, God's people Israel waited and trusted that their God would be faithful in sending them a Messiah. Hope requires trust. We trust because we believe that God is who he has claimed to be and because we participate in a story that records the fulfillment of his promises.
Cultivating hope in the midst of despair is not a way to smooth over pain or to escape our circumstances. To hope is to observe, experience, and feel the brokenness of the world and then to fix our eyes on the promise of redemption and restoration through the reign of Jesus the Christ.
We encourage you to ponder the following questions this week alone, in a group, or around the dinner table:
Here's a simple prayer for this week as we contemplate hope together:
Father, you are good and we want to trust in your promise or redemption and restoration. Please help us to see the world as it should be.
Jesus, you are God with us. We place our hope, concerns, and desires in your hands. Please help us to wait in faith.
Holy Spirit, we know that you are working in our world now. Please help us to trust in you and to do what you say.
Long before the arrival of Jesus, God's people Israel waited and trusted that their God would be faithful in sending them a Messiah. Hope requires trust. We trust because we believe that God is who he has claimed to be and because we participate in a story that records the fulfillment of his promises.
Cultivating hope in the midst of despair is not a way to smooth over pain or to escape our circumstances. To hope is to observe, experience, and feel the brokenness of the world and then to fix our eyes on the promise of redemption and restoration through the reign of Jesus the Christ.
We encourage you to ponder the following questions this week alone, in a group, or around the dinner table:
- What am I hopeful for in this season?
- Does my hope come from a place of despair, loss, or a recognition of brokenness?
- How might I begin to articulate my deepest longings to Jesus?
- What might it look like for me/us to develop a discipline of hope?
Here's a simple prayer for this week as we contemplate hope together:
Father, you are good and we want to trust in your promise or redemption and restoration. Please help us to see the world as it should be.
Jesus, you are God with us. We place our hope, concerns, and desires in your hands. Please help us to wait in faith.
Holy Spirit, we know that you are working in our world now. Please help us to trust in you and to do what you say.