But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)

Do you celebrate Advent? I hadn’t heard about this celebration until I was an adult. I’d heard about advent calendars and wreaths, but I believed those were only for certain denominations. Then, about 15 years ago, I attended a Baptist church where the pastor lit a candle each week for Advent and told us more about what each candle represented. It was then that I realized Advent was for everyone.

The word advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “coming.” During Advent, we celebrate that Jesus Christ came to the earth and that his second coming is imminent. Acknowledging Advent allows us to slow down during this busy season and focus on the reason we celebrate: Jesus.

Here’s a little history for you. According to BibleStudyTools.com, Christians began celebrating an advent time of fasting and prayer sometime in the 300s, after Constantine made Christianity legal. In the 1600s, Christians in the German Lutheran church started making advent wreaths of various kinds, eventually leading to the advent wreath we see today.

Advent wreaths typically contain five candles, depending on where you are from and the denomination you follow. Each week, starting with the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and culminating on Christmas Eve, a candle is lit that symbolizes a different element of the Christian walk.

The first candle symbolizes hope. Specifically, it represents the Israelites’ hope that the promised Messiah would come.

We know that our Messiah, Jesus, has already come to the world. We also know that he brought hope that extends beyond our lives here on earth. According to Paul in Romans 8:24–25, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” This passage expresses the tension between the hope we have now (our salvation as believers in Christ) with the hope to come (eternal life).

This hope sustains us on dark days when all seems lost. It gets us through good days too. No matter our circumstances, we have hope that there is more than just what we can see around us.

Whatever you might be facing today, take a moment to focus on Jesus, and remember that our hope is in him, not in the world.

Dear Jesus, thank you for the hope you bring by offering us a future with you that is beyond what this world can give. When times are tough, help us to remember that our hope comes from you. When times are good, help us praise you because our hope comes from you. Amen.