Hi everyone,
So today is the day! If you haven’t heard, my wife is competing on a show that I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say the name of on here (I also didn’t want to put a picture of it up in the featured image just in case… don’t want to get sued, you know). The episode that she’s on will be airing on a network that has to do with food tonight (I also don’t know if I’m allowed to say what channel it’d be on either).
I do know, however, that I’m not allowed to say who won. That is a big hush-hush until the episode actually airs. And I get it, as if everyone knew who wins before watching, then there really isn’t any point in watching. We all would be doing our own thing and just congratulate the winner on our own time.
But in not knowing, well then there’s that suspense. There’s the anticipation. There is the hope that we have for those we are rooting for, and that hope actually brings us joy.
And even though the team knows the result (it is a pre-recorded show), they are still planning to view their episode with their community. They still plan to celebrate with their colleagues and each other in spite of already knowing what is to come. They still plan on living in that hope.
We don’t have to know everything to have hope. We can still have hope even if we do know. For hope doesn’t come from the anticipation of truth, but from the anticipation of how that truth will affect us. May our hope in Christ never falter, but bring us joy throughout this upcoming Advent season and always!
Here are the readings for next week:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
I’ll admit that this Advent caught me a little off guard. It’s the longest possible Advent this year, and so it starts as early as it ever could. But it’s mostly the busyness of this post-Sabbatical season that really has me a bit off my game.
However, in reading these passages, I’m reminded of the hope that we have in the season, the hope we have in the upcoming Christmas season, and the hope we continue to have in the very present truth and love of Jesus. Although we know exactly what the Christmas season holds and what it will bring, we can continue to have hope in the coming Christ child, the grace in God entering the world in flesh, and the love that joins us all in the Spirit.
We know the ending of this story. We know what will come to pass. We already know the result. But we continue to have hope, not in what will happen, but in how it’ll affect us and change us for the better.
May this season of Advent bring to us the joy of hope and the peace in love, as we collectively look forward to God with us!
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!