Sunday is the start of Advent: the waiting for the arrival of the Christ child! This Advent our theme this year is The Gifts of Christmas, where we will focus each Sunday on the biblical concepts of Hope, Love, Joy, Peace and Christ. Gifts are found, shared, chosen, embraced and experienced: that is what we will do with these Gifts, starting with hope.

Find the Gift of HOPE! Advent and the birth of Jesus happens at the darkest time of the year, helping to create a backdrop of spiritual darkness that needs to be lifted. This Sunday we will reflect on the circumstances in which Jesus was born: it was a dark time. The people of Israel were searching for a sign that would give them hope. In the Advent of Jesus that hope was announced, first to Mary, then to the shepherds. They found the gift of hope in Jesus.

People today are searching for a sign of hope as well. They may not be looking to scripture or even something religious, but they are nonetheless searching for hope. You may be one of those people. The Advent season affords us the opportunity to look deeply into the significance of the birth of Jesus. Advent invites us all to find not only hope in Jesus, but to also understand that Jesus came to fulfill the aspirations of our hopes. Jesus came, not to be served like other rulers, but to serve others. He came not to condemn us for our sins but to save us from our sins. Jesus came not to just make life more tolerable, but to give us a new life with eternal dimensions. That is the kind of hope we are considering this Sunday as we explore The Gifts of Christmas! Join us this Sunday as we Find the Gift of HOPE!