For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13
I cannot help but to think of you that dare not confess audibly that Christmas is not your favorite holiday. Those of you who carry out Christmas festivities with a smile on your face but with a cast down soul. Those of you who cry in private before appearing in public. Those of you who sigh before greeting with a smile. A holiday that reminds you of all the things that have gone right and all the things that have gone wrong. A joy in your heart for those present, a gaping hole for those missing.
Advent is for those who are homesick for hope. Advent is for the weary. The weeks leading up to Christmas offer the opportunity to reawaken to the hope advent brings. Hope that reaches past Christmas and through and beyond the visible to the invisible. And the invisible will soon burst in on the scene just like the coming of Christmas Day.
Advent is not the time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Advent is life lived in waiting. Christmas represents the grace that has appeared to all of us, the first advent, but really, we were born into advent. We know no other life. Advent is an ‘in between time’. This is the truest spirit of advent. Advent is like early morning where the night is nearly over and the day almost here. This is where we live.
Only once in scripture is hope entitled “the blessed hope” describing the Second Advent, the glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Hope will return. Hope is a person. Hope is alive. Hope is not in circumstances changing. Hope is not in a “perfect life”. Hope is not in the right job, a unified family, a festive Christmas, health, a home or even a church. Hopeless runs back into Hope. Stay. Remain. Abide. Wait for that blessed hope. Hope is Jesus Christ and let no one fool you - it takes faith to wait on hope to return.
As surely as Christmas is coming, so is Jesus. This is what advent teaches us: to prepare, to watch, to welcome, to look for that Blessed Hope who is here, but still due to arrive.
I encourage you to memorize Titus 2:13 and when you feel overwhelmed this Christmas put the thought in God’s hands and replace the worry with the verse. This is Romans 12:2 in action.
Merry Christmas!
Jodi Barnes
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