We are a people plagued with a deep longing for identity, meaning, and purpose. We see in the world around us (and if we look closely, in ourselves) a constant churning attempt at BEING something. We labor to define oursevles and our place in the world in a way that makes us feel connected, valuable, and significant. And the gospel comes to us in that place of longing.

Through the church God is telling his story, and for those who are in the body of Christ, the church, we are the means by which God declares his manifold wisdom.

How do we figure out what life is about through all the mundanity of living? Paul calls us to remember - what does that mean? In our own power we have no hope and no access to God, so that we can also see that in Christ— who has gone into the holy place on our behalf — we have access to the very throne room of God. Remember the futility of life without Christ so that you will not be tempted to turn away from God’s work back to your own.

Before the foundation of the world, before birds and trees and even before rocks or stars or time itself, God has this plan for you: that you should be holy and blameless. See God’s purposes lived out in Christ for us as shown in Paul’s first letter to the Ephesians.

In our Advent longings, we are called to remember that our deepest need is unity with God, and our separation from Him is due to sin and guilt we have no power to wash away. But he has rescued us. He is rescuing us. He will rescue us. Let us hope in him.

“Keep watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” What does it mean to be ready, to stay awake, to keep watch? Jesus invokes images of spirituality, lovers, oil, and which show us ways to prepare for the coming of His kingdom.

We’ve come to associate the idea of “apocalypse” with “disaster” or “the end”, but the word apocalypse actually means uncovering. And apocalyptic literature is a genre that’s means to uncover what is hidden — sometimes about the future, yes, and sometimes about the past, too, but primarily apocalyptic literature is about the hidden realities of the present.