From Hope to Hope

The season of fall in Dallas has become one of my favorite times of year. Except for October’s devastating tornado that ripped a 17 mile path through the center of town, the weather is generally nice.  Mild days give way to cooler nights as the trend continues toward full on winter. 

But more than the weather, the month of November generally leads us into the season of Advent as we follow the lectionary to the close of one liturgical year and to the opening of the next. The year will end (November 24) as it always does with the celebration of Christ the King Sunday. On this day we remember and look ahead to how Christ is King of all the earth’s kings - remember those beasts from Daniel 7?

But before we get to Christ the King Sunday, we will have a few Sundays previewing for us the ache of Advent, the longing which we experience as we are filled with the blessed hope of Christ’s return. This is a turn from the lament and ache of the Prophet Jeremiah as he predicted and reflected upon Jerusalem’s destruction, Judah’s exile, and the hope of a new covenant. But it’s not a sharp turn for we find that this same new covenant, this same return for exile is fully and finally in the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I hope to see you Sunday as we journey towards the end of one year marked in hope to begin the next aching and longing for our Savior.  

Jay+

As we behold the face of God in the face of Christ, we are transformed into his image. This is what it means to be fully human—to become like Jesus, the truly human one, and to grow more and more in the freedom of the children of God.