The Hope That Leads Us to the Light – Advent Sunday

by Pastor Krista Price
Week of November 24

The first Sunday of Advent arrived with icy roads, strong winds, and a reminder that we are not always in control of our plans. Instead of gathering in our warm sanctuary, we found ourselves scattered—watching from living rooms, kitchen tables, or wherever we happened to be. And yet, somehow, we were still together.

There was something fitting about beginning Advent this way. This season has always started in the dark. The world waits, the nights grow longer, and we lean toward a promise we cannot yet see. As I shared Psalm 80—“Restore us, O God; make Your face shine upon us”—I realized how deeply those words echo our own longings. We all carry something in need of light: an unanswered prayer, a heavy worry, a place in our heart that feels winter-cold.

While we prayed for friends recovering from surgery, for loved ones in hospital rooms, for those who are lonely or afraid, it struck me again how hope works. It doesn’t erase the darkness. It steadies us inside it. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking; it’s confidence—trust that God is already moving, even before we see the first flicker.

If the candle at church remained unlit, the candle in your home didn’t have to. I pictured families lighting that first small flame, a symbol of something bigger than any storm—God’s quiet promise that dawn always returns. And I wondered what each of us is hoping for this year. Rest? Healing? Light? Maybe the courage to lay something heavy at Jesus’ feet and leave it there.

Advent is a story of people waiting: prophets, shepherds, Mary and Joseph, all looking toward a light they couldn’t yet touch. Today, that story continues with us. Even when the roads are icy, even when the world feels dim, hope still has a way of finding us.

May this season draw you toward that light. May hope rise in you again—patient, steady, and sure.