Gratitude leads to hope..........

The great gatherings of friends and families around tables filled with everything from elaborate oyster stuffings to simple mac and cheese is the perfect lead in to the church's great season of HOPE, the season of Advent. The American thanksgiving always falls the Thursday before the first of four weeks of Advent, our season of waiting in hope.

Gratitude naturally moves us towards HOPE. When you live in gratitude your contentment leans towards joyous anticipation.  We can't imagine what new thing we could possibly be grateful for tomorrow.

Giving thanks for gifts large and small shifts the center of our day and when practiced regularly, can shift the center of our lives.  For what do I give thanks today?  I wonder 'For what will I give thanks tomorrow?'  It is the perfect preparation for this time of waiting and watching, for nothing prepares you for the HOPE that is to come better than giving thanks for the gifts you have already received.

This is what Advent is all about.  Advent is a time when we watch and wait for the coming of the Christ, our Jesus, God's son.  We believe that Jesus came once and he will come again, and so we watch and wait....in HOPE and with thanksgiving.

HOPE is at the center of our lives as people of faith.  We put our hope in the Jesus who loves us, and claims us, and invites us into a different life.  We live in HOPE for the day when the kingdom of God reigns everywhere and peace is known by all.

The HOPE of Advent is cosmic - nothing short of a changed world will suffice....and nothing short of Jesus will bring it into being.

Dear Lord, when the world presses in and the demands overwhelm, help us focus on you.  Amen