Advent--Waiting with Hope

A few weeks ago Mark got a call from one of the pastors at our church asking if he and I could do the reading and candle lighting for the first Sunday of Advent. Our instructions were to read a passage from the book of Isaiah, add a “personal touch”, say a prayer and light the candle.

Sunday morning before church we decided to study the passage in more depth. We happen to have a nice thick commentary on Isaiah (by J. Alec Motyer, from IVP), so we took it out for some ideas. The commentary describes the remnant of Israel as a “people of hope.” It says of them, “For the present they know that God is with them; for the future they await the day when the hiding of his face is past and the pledges inherent in Isaiah and his sons and in Zion are fulfilled.”

I loved that image—God with us in the waiting and disappointment, and the hope that his promises will be fulfilled in the future. The connection to our own waiting seemed obvious, so we decided to share about our adoption journey. We talked about how we have learned to wait with hope, which is what Advent is all about. We re-live Israel’s experience of waiting for the Messiah, and also look forward to when Jesus will come again. Although it may feel like we are living in darkness, we live in the hope of God’s promises, and know that he is with us in the waiting.

The connection I had made to the passage we were assigned had to do with how we have experienced God in our longing and disappointment, and how we are hopeful that His promises to us will be fulfilled. It wasn’t until later, after church, that I made what may have been the more obvious connection—the passage we were reading was Isaiah 9:1-7. Verse 6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…”

The first Sunday of Advent was five days before we got the phone call letting us know we will be adopting a son in February. There was much rejoicing the following Sunday in church when our pastor asked us to share our good news with the congregation. God’s promises are being fulfilled!