I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

    and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

    more than watchmen wait for the morning,

    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Psalm 130:5-6

First Advent: HOPE 

It’s hard to write this when floodwaters recede only to rise again, when we approach the two-year anniversary of COVID in Canada.

Hope is easy when things, well, are easy. But when things are difficult? The funny thing is that hope, like a candle, is best in darkness. When everything else falls away, what is left but hope?

It’s fitting that on the first Sunday of Advent we light the candle of hope. Hope—not a fleeting wish or shallow optimism that things will get better, but a certain expectation for the Christ who is to come. As Christians, we can know with certainty that there is something Good, someone Good, who is coming.

Waiting for Christ is nothing if not hopeful.

“More than watchmen wait for the morning.” Consider that. The watchmen know the morning will come. There is no skepticism about it. But they still wait; they still check their watches and look for the rising sun.

Advent-hope is evident in the 19th century carol:

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.”

The soul felt its worth at Christ’s coming. The weary world can cling to a hope that is absolutely thrilling and alive. Our hope is living. Jesus Christ, our living hope. That’s the hope we have—a hope that is absolutely certain and promised to us. Christ is coming. Christ is coming.

We wait, and we wait in hope.

Christ is coming.

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress…

The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

    a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:1-2

– Danaye Reinhardt