“We light this first candle of advent, the candle of hope, and as we begin our annual journey to the Nativity, let these Old Testament passages speak to us as never before. The original hearers of Isaiah and Jeremiah were facing hardships both as individuals and as a nation: invasion, captivity, and enslavement from other nations was a constant threat. As their world seemed hopeless, the people needed to hear God’s reassurance of hope. In Jeremiah, we find these verses as part of a larger letter sent to God’s people in captivity. Like a love letter stilling a troubled and worried heart, the proclamation is God’s merciful promise that even though they now find themselves with no temple, no home, and no country, His people still have Him, and He is their source of hope. God is saying to Israel, “fear not, they may take you away from your homeland, but they can never take you away from me. Live faithfully, even in exile, and soon, you will not only hear my words spoken, but just as my prophet Isaiah says, you will soon see my words of hope take on flesh and dwell among you. You will see that He is a King of Kings who rules with perfect justice, and that He will give you a hope and a future, that will finally end with absolute peace.”

These same words, although not originally written to us as Christians, still speak to us when we realize that we too live in exile, not away from another country, but away from our true home for which we were made. We look around our world, and we are tempted to believe that everything looks hopeless. War, poverty, immorality, and corruption seem to be the order of the day. Yet it all this bleakness, God has already sent the source of our hope and future, and this source is the One who speaks to us this Christmas and every Christmas. He is the root of Jesse. He is the One upon Whom God’s Spirit rests. He is the one who judges justly. So, as we come once again to a time where we celebrate the fact this King was born in a stable, let it stir in our hearts that God not only speaks the words of hope, but that His Son, who is our Living Hope, is coming again to take us out of our earthly exile to be with Him in His Kingdom, our true home.

Prayer: “Let us pray, Father of hope, who gives this precious gift in times of highest joy and deepest sorrow. In the midst of our broken and darkened world, grant to us your people a renewed sense of hope. When death plagues our lives, remind us of the hope that we have in your Son Jesus, the One who has conquered death and offers us the victory. May that hope resound in our hearts this Christmas and every year to come. AMEN