Advent 2024
The thrill of hope / a weary world rejoices…We’ll sing these words from the beloved carol O Holy Night during Christmas and the Advent season (the time of preparing our lives and this world for the good news of Jesus’ birth in our lives), but you might be asking, How Does a Weary World Rejoice? You’re not alone. That is the question we’ll be asking all Advent long: how does we make space for joy in such a world where people are exhausted and anxious? What kind of good news does Jesus bring to this time and place? Especially in a season that always seems to rushed and stuffed with activities, it seems like there would be little room for genuine hope. But maybe, just maybe there’s something more…
We’ll be wrestling with this question of finding a space for joy alongside the real struggles that many of us know. We’ll get into this question in worship, in our small group settings, in our outreach opportunities and in our personal devotions.
This Advent and Christmas, we will hold space for our weariness and our joy, we will seek a “thrill of hope” in our hurting world and we will welcome joy! My hope is that in all of it, you feel like this story that we’ll see in the gospel of Luke is a story for YOU, that the incarnation of God’s Love and Spirit is awaiting your life!
So, pick up your devotion—turn to it (ideally, daily, but if nothing else, let it be a calming routine) when you really need it. Check out our daily Facebook Advent calendar prompts and decide what of these activities, below, will help you find joy and hope in this weary world—so broken and, yet, so beautiful.
Blessings on your journey. May you experience the thrill of hope and find something to rejoice about this Advent!
