First Advent Candle

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. This is a season of waiting, preparing and hoping. The first candle in Advent is the prophecy candle and it represents hope. Isaiah proclaimed the coming of the Messiah centuries before his birth. His words in the ninth chapter are full of hope still. Here is the sixth verse: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." When I look at the first candle, I remember God's promise. God promised to send a Savior to the people. God fulfills the promises made to care for us. God is loving and just. God brings peace; this gives us hope.

Advent is about hope rooted in a promise. The promise turns back to hope of new life and freedom. Isaiah trust a promise that he never saw fulfilled. We have seen God's promise of Savior and this is a time to reflect on how AND why he came the first time, but look forward to a time when he will come again. Isaiah was proclaiming God's promise, do we live our lives that way? Are we prepared for the greatness of the promise?

To light an Advent candle is to say, in the face of all that suggest the contrary that God is still alive, still Lord of all, and, because of that, all will be well. And we can believe that promise. Hope is precisely that, a vision of life that guides itself by God's promise, irrespective of whether the situation looks optimistic or pessimistic. Hope produces joyful anticipation of the coming of the Lord. It is the joyful anticipation of the realization of promise and the actualization of that same promise. Advent gives us a special chance to reflect on the promises of God and His fulfillment.