November 30

Prayer: 
Creator God,
Create in us a desire to hope,
A hope that sees the doors of our lives opened
Opened to you,
Opened to our neighbours,
Opened to strangers.
A hope that sees us all in the image of your Son,
Even in those places where our pride obscures that which has always been there in the other, You. Remind us as we hope for you,
that our hope is in you.
In all of you, in all the places that make us uncomfortable.
All the places we cannot see or refuse to see.
Teach us to desire you and your hope in renewed ways today.
Amen.

Reading: Isaiah 26:1-6, Matthew 6:25-33

Reflection: As we consider hope, our hope in our Saviour who came and will come again, we also consider that which prevents our hope, fear. We fear and our fears from job security and health to how we can perfect our Christmas experience for families, from the tree down to the dinner and ourselves we are left with anxiety and little if any hope. Our fears are not unique, for hundreds of years the hope that God would save his people became thin, as He was silent. As we worry, may we find new hope as we wait in this abbreviated season of waiting and seek the peace of God as we find ourselves worrying.

Application: It is hard and in many ways over simplistic to think we can fast from fear, but we can in those moment reorient ourselves, shifting to hope versus fear. Occupy Advent (@occupyadvent) suggests a simple way to reframe this, “If Jesus is Lord, ______ is not.” If you’d like to join their discussion or see what others are wrestling with consider looking at their Twitter page. But you do not need to do this on Twitter to do it in community, consider having the discussion in your small group or at your dinner table.