Advent - Prepare for Week One - Awake to Hope – The First Light

Advent begins in shadows.

Before the celebration of Christ’s birth, the Church pauses to remember that He will come again. We start here — in longing, in watching, in the quiet conviction that darkness is not permanent.

Advent isn’t nostalgia for Bethlehem; it’s training for Christ’s return. Every candle, every reading, every hymn is practice in hope.

This week’s texts pair Jesus’ call to “stay awake” with the psalmist’s prayer for peace. One shakes us from complacency; the other invites expectation.

Let’s walk the road to Advent together — alert, honest, and ready to welcome light.

The blogs will be a bit tighter this week (says the man who can't stop himself).  Ok that is the plan... I have most the week set but I always embellish as the Lord moves me.  

Day One – The Unexpected Hour

New Testament: Matthew 24:36–39
Old Testament: Isaiah 2:1–5


Advent begins with an alarm clock. Jesus calls His followers not to fear but to awareness.


Historical Context

In Matthew 24, Jesus stands within sight of Jerusalem’s temple. The disciples marvel at its stones; Jesus predicts its fall. “Not one stone will be left on another.” (we visited this last week in Luke - now you have two flavors of the story).

To Jewish listeners living under Rome, that sounded impossible. Yet within one generation, it happened. The Roman legions destroyed the temple in AD 70. Matthew’s audience heard Jesus’ words through that memory of ruin.

For many, “no one knows the day or hour” had become both prophecy and comfort. The world of their childhood had already ended once. Jesus reframed the crisis — the end of one age became the beginning of watchfulness.

The parallel to Noah’s days warns against spiritual amnesia: humanity keeps eating, working, and building while holiness passes by unnoticed.

Modern Context – Lessons for Life Today
Our generation may not worship at a temple, but we still build altars to certainty — careers, routines, and screens that promise control.

Jesus’ command, “Stay awake,” shakes that illusion.  

And some of us (my hand is painfully up), we build many many altars to uncertainty - we put our desires and expectations on the mensa.

Spiritual sleep doesn’t mean disbelief; it means distraction. Faithful living becomes the art of attention.

Every interruption can be invitation: the moment we could respond with compassion instead of irritation, silence a phone instead of a conscience. Advent means practicing awareness before crisis demands it.

When the world ends — globally or personally — it will end in the middle of ordinary life. Read that last sentence maybe two more times!

Christ’s followers are those who see the holy in the ordinary.

Faithfulness isn’t foresight; it’s alert love in the present tense. And great is thy....

Reflection

• Where have you assumed there will always be time “later” to do what you know is right?
• What would spiritual attentiveness look like in your week?

Prayer
Lord of time,
wake me from the comfort of predictability.
Keep my heart tuned to the quiet arrivals of Your grace.
Teach me to treat every ordinary hour as sacred.
Amen.