Growing up in the Christian Reformed Church, every year my church would recognize the season of Advent by lighting the Advent candles. As a young child, we were given a take-home flannel board that hung in our dining room in the month of December. Each week, we would recognize another week of Advent by pulling up another felt candle on the Advent board and reading scripture (a safe substitute for letting little children under the age of 6 light candles with an open flame). I was blessed to grow up in a community that focused so strongly on the Advent season and the true meaning of Christmas.

The first Christmas after my husband and I got married, my husband experienced the celebration of the Advent season and the lighting of the Advent candles for the first time. He grew up in the church, but not in a denomination that recognized Advent in that way. For the first time in a lot of years, I got to see the focus of Advent from the eyes of someone hearing it for the first time and it helped me dig deeper into a routine I had become so “used to” and taken for granted.

This week we are going to walk through the Advent candles with each blog post. Today we start with week 1 of Advent which focuses on Hope.

The Advent season is filled with hope because it is the anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promise made to Adam and Eve way back in Genesis 3. In verse 15 God cursed Satan (the Serpent) and told him “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” In the 3^rd chapter of the whole Bible, God reveals His plan to send a savior to redeem His fallen creation. This savior – “He” – would crush Satan and defeat death!

Advent is a preparation period leading up to the celebration of the birth of Christ. This season should be filled with hope as we recognize that in God sending His son to earth to be born humbly in a manger, He fulfills His promise & plan to send a savior to redeem His fallen creation! Jesus is our long-awaited Messiah who conquered death, and in Him we can have hope for the future!

Your Monday Mission this week is to carry that hope with you through this Christmas week and beyond!