Light Advent Series 2023

This morning, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the season of Advent has begun. This is a season of expectant waiting and preparation leading up to Christmas and the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

If we look at the Latin root, adventus, it refers to an invasion, a ripening, and appearance.

Advent is not always physical, as in the case of Jesus’ birth. It can also mean an arrival of truth settling into our souls in the midst of longing. An invasion of hope when life feels uncertain. Or a rising of light within a dark chasm.

And this season…is meant for everyone.

If the anticipation of Christmas and celebrating Jesus’ birth fills you with delight and joy…
Advent is for you.

If the festivities of this season bring more anxiety and busyness than fun and rest, take heart…Advent is for you.

If something this year has shattered your joy…Advent is for you.

For those who are here, open, and ready to worship…or for those who have cautiously arrived bearing pain, loss, and grief too fresh or too deep…Advent is for you.

It’s for everyone.

Advent brings a light and truth to the persistent longing we all carry. It’s reminder is found in the visual of a candle flame.…a reminder of a promise made long ago that when the fullness of time had come, a Savior would be born. One who heals, rescues, loves and is a light for all people.

(Light the candle.)

Together let’s pray:

Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

May this flame of light guide us towards Emmanuel, God who is with us. Amen.

Isaiah 2:5

Our advent moment this morning centers us on the scripture found in Isaiah 9:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.

Darkness and light in the Bible often serve as metaphors for all that is broken by sin (darkness) and all manner of things which are good and beautiful (light). Advent is a season of reflecting on the collision between the two.

We acknowledge that this world is neither all light nor it is all darkness. In our daily lives are moments filled with good and beautiful, yet those moments can also hold pain, and suffering… and we grieve. Advent invites us to deal honestly with this reality. Light and darkness are always at hand. And the choice is ours.

The prophet Isaiah warns the people of God against making the wrong choice:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness.

It’s as if the prophet would have our senses awakened to the reality of the choice at hand: the dark way of evil or the illuminating way of good. But Advent is about God’s refusal to let the darkness win. The evidence? The birth of our Savior…arriving as fully God, fully man.

In the first advent…Jesus came to rescue us from the domain of darkness.

And in the second advent, when He returns,

      He will put an end to all that is dark in the world, fully and finally.

So, in this truth, our choice is reframed: It is not simply between darkness and light, evil and good. In the end, the choice must be to surrender to the very Light of the World and learn to trust Him to deliver us again and again from the darkness within and around us with the mercy, overflowing grace, faith, and love which is fully ours in Jesus.

Together let’s pray these words…

May this candle serve as a reminder that Advent is a time of self-examination. It’s meant to open us up, to let the Light in…in every imperfection, every dark place, every need. Let us receive Jesus…both the bringer of light and the giver of life. For in Him, no darkness can exist. May we choose His light despite our circumstances this day. Amen.

Isaiah 9:2

Isaiah 5:20