Advent: God's Gifts...Hope

(This year's readings will be a posted here. We will combine the stories submitted with the blog entries. If you put your e-mail in the box to the right, the post will come to your in-box.)

Week One: The Gift of Waiting...

We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:24-25

Scholars tell us that the New Testament noun “patience” is, first of all, a quality of God. God shows patience in the desire that all should repent and be saved, providing time and showing mercy.

As we recognize God's patience and mercy to provide salvation for us and all creation, then why would we not also wish all people to understand God's patience and mercy working on their behalf? Too often we forget that our call is to be patient like God, hoping and working for the inclusion of all. Too often we set ourselves in judgment against those we define as "not saved."

Paul reminds us of the gift of our salvation. In the sin and brokenness of life in the here and how, we often cry out, “How long, O Lord?” Can’t God just come down and be done with all this?

But if we are adopted by the love of God, and have been taught and nurtured so that we can recognize that love, then we must hope for the salvation of all, even if we can’t possibly see how that will happen.

We hope for what we cannot see because God is God. We live patient lives, working to share the love of God with those who cannot see God’s love. And we keep working to share that love because that is the gift that no one should live without.