Woodlake Church

If you're wanting to avoid the holiday burn out this year... Advent is the answer.

Advent: (from Latin advents, "coming"), in the Christian church calendar, the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas and also the preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.

"Advent is practice in waiting." - Tish Warren

Advent is the answer.

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparation for Christmas. We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day. We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your Kingdom. We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence. We are your people, walking in darkness yet seeking the light. To you we say "Come, Lord Jesus". Amen. -Henri Nouwen

Advent Sunday 1: Hope

"Hope is called the anchor of the soul because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish’ I wish that such-and-such would take place rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.” - R.C. Sproul

Hope: The confidence that, by integrating God’s redemptive acts in the past with trusting human responses in the present, the faithful will experience the fullness of God’s goodness both in the present and in the future. - The Lexham Bible Dictionary

Hope is our trust in God’s work in the past, God’s goodness in the present, and God’s promises for the future.

God promises hope to the most hopeless.