Advent 2020 - A Joyful Hope

Nov 23, 2020 | by Brad Sumner

First, we put up our exterior Christmas lights earlier than we normally would. Then, this past weekend, we put up our tree. Again, earlier than usual for us. I found myself asking ‘what’s going on around here?!’

I was speaking with a neighbour about it and she said: “Oh, I put my decorations out early because I just needed to inject a bit of JOY into 2020!” I think that’s it, isn’t it?

It can seem like peace, hope and love and especially JOY can be hard to find in this tumultuous time. Yet we can’t just rush forward toward Dec 24 or 25 and expect that a magic switch will flip and a kind of joyful hope will settle over our lives. You have to fight for JOY. You have to work at it, to hunt for it. To seek after it – especially when times are dark.

So here at Jericho Ridge, we are going to spend the season of Advent, which is the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas, exploring different characters in the original Christmas story and how they fought for and found joy in the midst of challenging situations.

Nov 29 – Pastor Wally will look at the life of Elizabeth who experienced joy after life-long barrenness.
Dec 6 – Pastor Brad will introduce us to Jesus’ cousin John the baptizer who experienced joy even as his circumstances deteriorated.
Dec 13 - Pastor Brad will look at Simeon who experienced deep joy in his old age
Dec 20 – Rose will preach on Anna the prophetess who was tragically widowed but still found joy in her walk with God.
Dec 24 - Finally on Christmas Eve, when we hope to be back to in-person gatherings, we’ll see how Mary experienced both the joy and the challenges of a new baby.

So as we launch into Advent 2020, please join us online Sunday mornings at 10:30 AM either on our YouTube channel or our Church Online platform at jerichoridge.com.

It would be our JOY to host you this Advent season.

- Pastor Brad