Advent

Look to Ebenezer: Historical Hope as Advent Turns into Christmas
Look to Ebenezer: Historical Hope as Advent Ends and Christmas Begins

This remembrance helps develop a confident, enduring Christian hope that is more than wishful thinking and leads to real-world action.

God with Us
God with Us

This is the message of Christmas hope: Jesus Christ is Immanuel, and he wants to be God with you.

A Colonel, a Kid, and a Christmas Story - NORAD - Harry Shoup
A Colonel, a Kid, and a Christmas Story

Shoup’s actions during Christmastime 1955 offer an un-planned, un-staged snapshot of a political system and world view strikingly different from that of Lenin, Stalin, and Xi—a system founded on the freedom to believe in God or Santa or not, to believe in the meaning of Christmas or not, to believe in Immanuel or not.

Though the Powerful Ignore Genocide, Have Hope - Uyghur Forced Labor Act
Though the Powerful Ignore Genocide, Have Hope

That is my hope for this Christmas: in the midst of indifference to a genocide, Jesus’ word speaks judgment, comfort, and rest. God is not indifferent, cold, or distant. He entered the world amidst bloodshed, and he sits sovereign over it now. So, the weary world rejoices.

A Christmas Tribute to America
A Christmas Tribute to America

In short, America—and good, decent people who live here—has allowed me to become who I am and gave me everything I have. I doubt my story would be possible in any other country, but even if it was, it happened here.

Jesus the Servant
Jesus the Servant

If God’s example was deep concern for the lost and needy, then at all times, but especially during the celebration of Jesus’ birth, we should be so concerned as well.

Americans Have Strength, Need Hope

Despite the gloomy outlook, there are several reasons for hope this Advent season. This is not nearly the darkest period in American or global history, and there are good reasons to believe that the US still possesses all the tools needed to revitalize the country and stabilize the international system. The question is whether we will use them effectively.

Hope amid Suffering as a Child is Born
Hope amid Suffering as a Child is Born

Hope is, fundamentally, the conviction that things can be different, that what is badly wrong with the world is not ultimately irreparable. Like the Christian calendar, which mirrors the rhythms of the year even as it points to something beyond, hope directs our vision to a better world just beyond the horizon.

The Flight to Egypt - Joseph Mary - Advent
The Flight to Egypt

Joseph and Mary’s expectations were rooted in submission to God’s plan: that was their basis for hope. We, too, can have hope in God, trusting that he will care for us and lead our families.