Advent Hope 2022
During the season of Advent, Christ City Church launched a weekly devotional. The aim of the devotional was to help us all make our way through the Christmas season in a way that was reflective, meaningful, and life giving. I had the privelege of writing the opening devotional for the series which is found in this post. Additional devotions can be found at: christcitydc.org/adventguide.
Advent Hope Devotional
Advent Guide - 2022
In the opening moments of the first Christmas story, in Luke’s gospel, we are told that there were shepherds living in fields not far from where Mary was giving birth to Jesus. Those shepherds, oblivious to the cosmic shifts taking place in a manager not far from where they were keeping watch over sheep, were then visited by angles. A single angel at first, then….a lot of angles. The Bible says it was a, “great company of heavenly hosts”.
The first thing the angel says to the shepherds is, “Do not be afraid”. The opening lines from angelic voices was - don’t be afraid.
There was a lot to fear in that moment. Shepherds lived tedious and backbreaking lives. There were constant threats to their safety from the wild animals in the wilderness in which the sheep grazed and the wild world in which they lived. Shepherding only provided a subsistent livelihood and the slightest of economic downturns or hardships would find the shepherd and their family battling hunger and destitution.
These fear-making ingredients were then mixed with the larger anxiety produced by living under Roman occupation and the constant threats of oppressive violence, both from Rome and from the regular waves of violent uprisings and revolts that dotted the landscape and history of occupied Israel.
Yet, the angel opens with, “don’t be afraid”.
They continue their conversation with the shepherds by telling them why they ought not be afraid. “Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you”, the angels declared, “He is the Messiah, the Lord”. The angles brought news that the savior had arrived. The one who would liberate them from all that binds, and heal them of all that was broken - Jesus had arrived. This is what ‘Advent’ means after all - arrival.
The angels were announcing to the shepherds - and to us - that because of Jesus’ arrival, we need not be afraid. They would go on to say, that this “good news” of theirs would be the cause of great joy for all people’. Good news. Great joy. That’s what had arrived in a manager not far from the shepherds and their sheep.
This week as we mark the beginning of Advent, and reflect on the Advent theme of Hope. Let us consider how the arrival of Jesus - in our lives and in our world - can be the source of hope, the kind of hope that casts out fear, even in the midst of harship and trial, economic downturn and what can feel like destitution knocking on our door.
Let us reflect on the ways that Jesus offers hope in the middle of social fracture, violence, ongoing oppression, and radical uncertainty. In what ways do you need to be reminded that there’s no need for fear, there is good news and great joy, because Jesus is here.