Christmas is coming

As I mentioned last week; I will be doing posts on every Sunday of Advent and centre them around the true meaning of Christmas.

I looked at last week at the Advent candles in church and this week we lighted the second candle.

The second one is meant to represent hope. I think this is something we all forget at Christmas though.

We often get caught up in the commercialisation of Christmas rather than why we celebrate it, and lighting the second candle for hope is a reminder even for modern times.

In the old testament there are many prophecies to say that Jesus would be born, but why were they needed?

Back then, even historical records show that, there were lots of violence, hatred and crime. The prophecy that someone would come to bring us hope within our darkness was a hope for a better tomorrow.

But that is still true today. When we consider the world we live in, crime, hatred and war, especially in the middle east, hope is something that is in high demand.
Even for me; I've had a lot of mental health issues recently as well as sickness in the family and sometimes in those moments I lose hope.

Today's lighting of the second advent candle reminded me that hope is a relevant thing to still have in this day and age.

If you are having a rough time just remember we are in Advent, and as we learnt last week, that time we know that Christmas is coming. We celebrate it because at the time Jesus being born was the hope we needed.

So I will ask that this week in the midst of the Christmas run up that you consider the people who are having dark moments and are in need of a little hope and if we can't help and encourage people  in the season of hope and good will for all then we're focusing to much else where.

We're in Advent, Christmas is coming and so is the remainder of our hope in our darkest hours.