Advent · Day 1 · Sunday, November 29
Stay awake
Be on guard! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time will come.
Advent starts with a warning, not a manger. Jesus tells his friends to stay alert, because no one knows the hour when he will come back.
That can sound like fear. Read the rest of the passage and it sounds more like a doorkeeper on a long night: someone who stays up because someone is coming home (Mark 13:34-37).
The next four weeks are practice in that kind of waiting. Christians remember how long God’s people waited for the promised Messiah, and they wait now for Jesus to come again. Today the only task is to wake up to it.
Pray
Lord Jesus, wake me up to what you are doing. Keep me watching for you this Advent, not out of fear, but because you are coming. Amen.
Carry it today
What would help you stay awake to God this month?
First Sunday of Advent: tonight, light the hope candle. The Advent candles