1st Sunday of Advent

This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent....the four weeks prior to Christmas Eve in which we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christmas...the anticipation of the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child. 

Last year I did something a bit different and would like to repeat it again this year.  

My advent blog was based on a thought I had:

"There is HOPE in the Cross, PEACE in the Cross, JOY in the Cross,  LOVE in the Cross.
The celebration of Advent builds up to the culminating event of the birth of the Christ child....
Life in a manger and the culmination of that Life was death, death on a cross. 
The Birth is tied to the Cross...so all the elements of Advent can also be tied to the Cross." (CoffeeTime with a Dear Friend December 2, 2019)

I did share it with our congregation this Sunday. Since we are doing "drive in" services lighting candles didn't  seem very practical, so instead we are hanging a banner each Sunday that represents that weeks advent theme. I encourage you to do either, or both, as you recognize each week's theme. Making the banners could be a family project! 

Here is week 1

THERE IS HOPE IN THE CROSS
 (if you are doing your own advent candle ceremony)  Light the first candle which is HOPE 

✝The prophecy of HOPE that a savior would come and suffer (on the cross) for our transgressions.
📖 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.  Isaiah 7:14

 📖  “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,  from ancient times.” Micah 5:2

📖   By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicke
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:8-9

✝HOPE that the child born in such a lowly manner, would come to take on the sins of the world through His sacrifice on the cross.
📖  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6-7

📖 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:30-33
📖  Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

✝HOPE in our own Salvation through His death on the cross.

📖  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

✝Our HOPE IS His coming again, because the cross...death... could not keep Him.

📖  For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:11-14

✝Through His death on the Cross we have a LIVING HOPE!  Because He was ressurected from that death!

📖  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

Can I get an AMEN?!

Our HOPE this season can be seen in the Cross.
 🙏My Prayer for you as you prepare for the coming of Christmas is that you may feel that HOPE, and may it keep the meaning of Christmas close to your heart.❤