This Sunday sees the start of the Advent Season when we prepare for Christmas Day through the lenses of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
These things have taken a bit of a hit this year for many people. Mark McCrindle, a well know Australian social researcher conducted a survey recently that showed that 56% of Australians say they are struggling to find any joy, anything good in 2020. The same survey showed 40% of Aussies say they have suffered mental health issues this year that will have a long term negative impact on them – peace is hard to find! And for some hope is all but gone with 67% of Australians saying they are coming to Christmas time actively worried about the future.
But this is the first Sunday of Advent, in spite of a pandemic, even though we have had heartache this year, Christmas is coming and as people have done for hundreds and hundreds of years we have the opportunity to deliberately take some time to consider how we find hope that will see us through to the end of 2020 and into all our tomorrows.
This hope has to do with a baby.
