Advent - Week 1 - Hope

Throughout the season of Advent there will be one post each week with one of the Advent passages and a short devotional on the text.  It is our hope that Advent would be a season of preparation for the birth of the Messiah.

Week 1 - This week we light the first purple (or the blue) candle in the Advent wreath.
“We light this candle in hope, the bright hope of Jesus, the Christ.”

Questions:
What do you think of when you think of hope?
Who would be an example of hope?
Where do you find hope?
For what do you hope?

Scripture:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
"The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' "

Discussion:
What does this passage have to do with hope?
Jeremiah writes, ”The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
What do you think these words mean?  
Does this relate to hope?  
What do you wish God would do?

Activity:
Sometime this week, write down a list of your hopes for yourself, for your family, for our world.  
Share these with someone else.  
Consider ways that you might work toward these purposes.

Christmas Benevolence:
Click here to find ways to volunteer for this year's Christmas Benevolence.