Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we now stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
- Romans 5.1-2
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. Advent marks the start of the Christian year. The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” In this season, Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of the Messiah Jesus and look forward to Jesus’ coming again and the establishment of God’s new creation.
In this time we wait and hope for Christ’s indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit. We wait and hope for Christ’s light to break through the darkness of our world. We wait and hope for the revelation of Christ with us, Christ among us.
In the New Testament, hope is one of the defining marks of the believer. Despite the suffering that comes from living in a fallen world, we are certain that God will one day complete what he has started, both in our own lives and in the whole world. We believe that God has acted in the past, we believe that God is acting in the present, and we believe that God will act in the future. Those beliefs are at the heart of Christian hope.
In this light, we must always remember that Christian hope is something that is active, not passive. When I say that we wait and hope for Christ’s coming during the season of Advent, I don’t mean that God wants us to sit around looking bored. On the contrary! God’s Spirit is leading us to go into the world and embody the reality of his kingdom come. In all of life, we are to show people what it looks like for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we do this as the people of God. Not as a bunch of individual Christians. But, as one people, who are joined together in Christ, exulting in hope of the glory of God.
Hope for a renewed world, both now and to come; may this be our focus in both the meditation of our hearts and our outward action during this season of Advent.
