If you like scratch of stickers or know someone who does, you may have picked up our Family Advent calendar and devotional this week. The calendar is a fun way to start teaching kids about different ways to engage with God during the Advent season and beyond. Each day, someone scratches off a sticker to reveal an activity or practice that goes with that week's devotional. Some are interactive like writing a thank you card or baking cookies for someone, while others teach how to do breath prayers, practice gratitude, or share God sightings. I think God sightings are the quintessential practice of Advent. They are exactly what they sound like—sharing stories of where and when you have seen God. The season of Advent is about waiting for the arrival of God. It is the long night before sunrise breaks over the horizon. It is the pregnant season before the new life of Christmas. It is the season of those who look and look and look for God until they catch a glimpse of God's sacred presence in their midst. It is the season of prophets who somehow have the eyes to see what so many of us miss.
This week's devotional points us towards the prophet Isaiah as he looks towards the coming of the messiah. It says in Isaiah 9:6-7:
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
During this time, Judah was experiencing major geopolitical turmoil and threats from larger external nations. It was a time of instability and fear, yet Isaiah looks through this darkness and sees a dawn in which God brings peace and hope for God's people. Like a candle in the night, this hope provides new context to see the world around us right now. We confess this hope was made manifest in Jesus, that Jesus is the light of the world, but it can often feel like Jesus is still absent in our day, that the flame of this hope has spluttered or gone out. Sometimes all we need to do is pause and practice naming the ways in which we really see God in our lives. Can you stop right now and name where you have seen God's hope this past week? Sometimes we struggle to name anything at all. Sometimes we wander through Advent in darkness. I believe this is where the community of faith matters most. We can't all be prophets all the time, but we can learn to listen to the prophets in our midst. To hear their stories of God sightings, be they close at hand or a long way off. We can listen to the assurance that God cares and God is coming. Together we can hold on to hope. May it be so this Advent.