November 30, 2025

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: HOPE

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”

(Jeremiah 29.11-12)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Traditionally, the first Sunday of Advent is themed with the concept and truth of biblical hope. We all have hopes and dreams for ourselves and others. We toss the word around like a beachball in the stands at a football game. It is fun and interactive. If the ball comes near you, regardless of who you are, a bit of anxiety and desire flood your soul. You see the ball. You hear the cheers. You know all eyes are watching. You even imagine the ball coming directly at you so that you can participate. You may even move yourself from your seat and stretch out your hands with the hope of bouncing the ball high into the air. You may sense disappointment when it is close but not close enough. In that moment you dismiss the whole “game” as childish. You refocus your attention to the main reason you are there. What is that reason? To watch the game and live vicariously through others knowing you can never be on the field but always in the stands. You surrender your hope and live with a temporary satisfaction of “being there.” That is not biblical hope.

We know the description of faith which the Apostle Paul presented to those Christ followers who committed their lives to a different hope than the one they were raised with. Specifically, Paul was speaking to Jewish Christians. They may have even been known as Messianic Jews. For the Apostle Paul under Roman house arrest, he addressed them as “Hebrews.” It was an ancient term designating the roots of the Jewish nation. The very mention of the word took the listener back to the days of Abram from the Ur of the Chaldees. It was there in the midst of worshipping many gods circling a celestial calendar that he heard the voice of Yahweh Elohim, as He would later reveal Himself to Moses. The voice spoke to a hope that Abram had in his heart, mind and soul that no other god before Him had done. Of course, Abram had known only one god before “HIM.” He had been aware of the other gods and their stories rising up from the history of the Chaldeans and Babylonians before him. He heard them at his father’s knee as he and his siblings grew up listening to the tales of renown. Even in his father’s voice, Abram heard something different when he talked about the One who was yet to come. When his father moved to Haran in the north to better care for his flocks, Abram stayed behind with his wife Sarai. He had other business to tend to which better suited the city and perhaps the temple there. His heart may have longed for a closer touch like that beach ball in the football stands. He had hopes. The day arrived when the “ONE” came into view. Like the face of a clock with stationary hands, the “ONE” rose to the top. In Abram’s religion it would remain for 1500 years as the dominant god only to be replaced by another. In Abram’s faith, he knew something would never change about this “ONE.” Abram put his hope in this “ONE.” His put his faith in this “ONE.” He accepted the call he heard from the “ONE” and left everything he knew and had built his life upon behind. Abram left the land of wise men, magi, and began a journey to see what the “ONE/HIM” was about to reveal.

Sound familiar? For Paul, the term “Hebrews” was a root word for those who wandered in search of God’s fulfillment of a promise, a covenant, made with Abram and his descendants, Isaac and Jacob. However, for Paul that line of descendancy extended further into the future to include David, Solomon, the prophets including John the Baptizer who broke a four-hundred-year-old silence announcing the coming of the Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom. This was the ONE TRUE HOPE. It was the fulfillment of God’s plan for the course of humankind to be restored to right relationship with themselves and the creator. It was the hope of establishing a realm of existence that would stand above all others immutable and undefeated. It would be like the heavens had settled on earth and all would be right with the world. They would no longer have to wander and search; the root understanding of the word “Hebrews.” They would no longer be the slaves of others but servants only to the “ONE.” That was the day the Israelites, the Jews, those Hebrews longed for. Paul was declaring that fulfillment had come in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, the Messiah of the world. Wise men and women had sought Him. They now were the gospel magi who had seen what God had revealed. They would return to their homes across the face of the earth to declare the glory of God and the mystery revealed. There were no secrets anymore. The truth had come like a light in the darkness for all to see and be seen. They all had a chance to get on the “field of play” and fully participate.

Mighty ones of God, this is the hope that is presented to us on the first Sunday of Advent. In our preparation for the Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem, celebration, we are being called to remember the hope which God had and has for us as His people. Out of Jeremiah, we are reminded, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” They speak to us of God’s will, purpose and intention. They also speak to the ONE through whom our hope is fully realized. It is His hope that we will share this good news for others. Remember the words of John the Baptizer, the cousin of Jesus, who from prison sent his own disciples to inquire of Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come or shall we hope for another?” We know the answer to that question without equivocation. Our hope is in Jesus the Christ whom God has prospered unto eternal life. It is His death for our sins that give us the opportunity to be called “the righteousness of God.” It is in Him that we have our hope. (1 John 3.3) Let us go and seek the Lord where He shall be found. Let us not go alone. Let us surrender our hopes in this world to satisfy the longing of our heart, mind and soul to the only hope that we truly have for an eternal and abundant life. He is Christ the Lord!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.