ADVENT MEDITATION WEEK 1

FIRST WEEK ADVENT MEDITATION AND PRAYER

 

MEDITATION

Advent is about hope. Hope requires waiting. Hope requires expectant waiting. Waiting with hope means waiting with an attitude of trust. When we hope, we always must wait with the knowledge that our prayers will be answered, but not immediately. We must remember that God is faithful to his promises, but that God's faithfulness does not always fit in our desire for immediate gratification.

When we celebrate advent, we remember the faithful waiting of those who waited for Jesus to come into the world. God had promised a Messiah for centuries, and God's people waited for a Messiah. They had gone hundreds of years without a true prophet from God. In God's timing, and in God's own unique way, Jesus came to earth. He came to a peasant family. To a virgin who was not yet married. We remember the one who was born to pave the way for Jesus named John the Baptist. We remember that his parents

were advanced in years, beyond the age of childbearing. And yet, God provided them with a son in their old age. God used teenagers and seniors, men and women, smooth skinned babies and calloused construction workers to bring his good news into the world. But first, there was waiting.

Today, many of us wait as well. We wait for answered prayer. We wait for God to deliver us from illness and sadness, loneliness and conflict. We look with hope to Jesus, who continues to make all things new. We believe that even now, Jesus can and is doing a new thing in our hearts and the hearts of others. And we wait. We wait expectantly because we hope, and waiting is a part of hoping and believing.

 

PRAYER

Lord, help us to look to you as our one true hope, and our one true deliverer. Let us trust that you are now working out things for the good of those that love you and are called according to your purpose. And help us to not grow weary. Amen