Advent Sunday - Hope (2021)


It's that time of the year again - the last brilliant rays to the sunset of another year. And with that comes this last beautiful celebration. Possibly my favourite of them all. And I'm not sure why. I certainly don't have a plethora of fantastic family memories from this time; I have often spent this time alone. But still, there is a quiet beauty and reverence ... and, dare I say it? a kind of holiness captured in the season. 

I want to write for each Sunday and on each special day for the last month of 2021. I want to mark my thoughts and observations and feelings this year. It has been a year full of struggle and frustration and learning. I am grateful to end the year employed, which is not how I started it. I set my Word for the Year as "Threshold" which became most appropriate. This was a year of great change for me. So, there is something wonderful to be reminded of Hope today - that there are still wonderful things to come, even in the midst of our burdens and oppression. 

Here's the thing that I'm thinking about today - we are heading into the third year of the COVID pandemic. This is not the first pandemic that our history has seen, nor likely will it be the last. And yet, I can't help but wonder how is it being lengthened from what is going on. At the same time, humanity continues to bicker and push back, rifts are prevalent in society, and not just from the pandemic. I do think, however, that it has been exacerbated by it. Anger towards Europeans / colonizers, pain from generations of oppression, leaders who speak platitudes of vapid meaning. I would like to say this is from technology and how everyone can become an influential force, regardless of what they put out there. But I could be wrong. I would like to think that this is mild in comparison to the hardships those before us went through. But I could be wrong there, too. 

And in the middle of all this ... comes Advent. A tradition long lost to many, now associated with 25 little treats (often chocolate) which is so far from the meaning behind its creation. A quick search reveals its meaning: Advent (from the Latin adventus, "coming", in the Christian church calendar; is a period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christa at Christmas and also a preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. Reports even say that it was recognized as early as the 4th century. And today, the first Sunday is often referred to as "Hope" ... the hope for things to come. The hope of the Old Testament people for a savior, and hope today for the end of our conflict. I, personally, hope that something can shift before the end of days. I am one of those people that do not put all my eggs in the basket of the Rapture and the Second Coming signaling the end of time. No, I believe that Christ has already come a second time - on the Day of Pentecost. And that what the common evangelical churches preach today have more often than not missed the mark. Mind you, maybe everyone today is guilty of missing the mark!! Hence, the need for salvation. For redemption.


So, today, I think on the need for my redemption, for my acknowledgment that I am not all-knowing. And I add my prayers for hope for healing, in whatever ways it is needed. May hope for a better tomorrow, hope for realization, hope for love and compassion for all, be with us now and always. Emmanuel - Come, Lord Jesus

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