December 2022 Student Pastor’s Note

Christmas is here, and I am filled with expectation this year, and not simply because I am expecting. This season, as I have readied my heart for celebrating advent, I have been brought back to the theme of hope.

Hope is more than crossing our fingers and wishing for an outcome, more than working hard and then shrugging our shoulders as we “leave it to the Lord”. Biblical hope means waiting. It is a sure expectation that God WILL be faithful to his promises and WILL show up in the world.

Hope is not guesswork in the bible, it is a sure thing.

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s faithful people were waiting with anticipation for the Messiah to come. Despite the destruction of the temple, despite being exiles, despite other horrors that befell the nation they had a steadfast hope that God would fulfill his promise. And he did!

Matthew 1:23 tells us that the Messiah arrived, as promised- God with us. The fact that God humbled himself and came down into his creation is incredible! God cared so much about his people that he did not simply fix their political situation, their economic situation, their circumstances of hopelessness. God cared so much about his people that he came down into the world in the form of a defenseless baby. He cares so much for his people- both then and now- that he grew and allowed himself to be spit on and ridiculed, suffering the shame and death that we deserve.

Our God fulfills our hope with more goodness than we can fathom. This year, I pray that each of you does as Hebrews 10:23 says and “ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” The Lord was faithful to bring the Messiah, and the Messiah will be faithful to save and faithful to come again. God cares for us beyond our immediate circumstances. His plan to consummate our hope is more n we could ever ask or imagine.

Lilly Hunter