May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Dear Friends,

Advent is here! It’s time to talk about hope, peace, joy and love again! As you may (or may not) recall, these are the traditional themes of the Advent Sundays. At first glance, we might think these are just cute topics for discussion or idealistic fluff. In actuality they represent the things most longed for and needed in becoming fully human. The power and promise of the gospel is that God supplies them in abundance to us through Jesus Christ.

In a broken world, full of disappointments and failures, we are given the hope of victory over death itself and of being part of a new, righteous heaven and earth. Though the hectic world we live in stirs up our anxiety, we find ‘the peace that passes understanding’. Phil. 4:7 In the midst of our sorrows we find that ‘the joy of the Lord is our strength’. Nehemiah 8:10 We witness hostility, estrangement and callousness, yet ‘the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit’! Ro. 5:5

There is no human power, philosophy, learning or religion that can supply us so abundantly with hope, peace, joy and love. God has done it through the birth of a helpless baby in Bethlehem. He has promised and delivered.

We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday in Advent, December 1^st.  As we do so we will remember the coming of Jesus into our world, his humble life of service and sacrificial death. We will continue to anticipate his return. I hope you’ll join us!

In Christ’s love, 

Harry