Hope Awaits | Christmas Awaits | Sunday, November 30th, 2025

Devotional

Day 1: Lament leads to hope in God's forgiveness.

Honest lament is the starting place for hope; admitting the ache and crying out from the depths opens the way for God’s attentive mercy and forgiveness. When a person brings their sorrow and sin into the open, they make space for God to meet them, to turn their "I couldn't stand" into reverent service. Waiting with the whole being grows from that honesty, as hope is placed in God’s faithful word and steadfast love. [23:36]

Psalm 130 (ESV)
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Reflection: When have you brought a deep sorrow or a hidden sin to God but left before giving him time to answer? What would it look like to stay and speak that sorrow honestly to God for five minutes each day this week, trusting his mercy to meet you?

Day 2: Grace transforms waiting into godly living.

The appearing of God’s grace is not only a past event but a present and ongoing influence that trains believers to renounce ungodliness and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Waiting for the blessed hope is active—grace shapes motives, changes identity, and makes people eager to do what is good even now. This movement from receiving grace to being transformed invites participation in the present age as part of the hope. [37:22]

Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Reflection: Name one habit or small compromise you default to when tempted by worldly desires. What is one concrete, replaceable practice you can adopt this week that says "no" to that habit and "yes" to a small, godly alternative?

Day 3: Confession of struggle leads to deliverance in Christ.

Paul’s raw wrestling in Romans 7 shows that honest confession of inner failure is part of the Christian life—and that confession points directly to the need for deliverance through Christ. The cry "Wretched man that I am!" is not the end but a hinge that turns toward grace and thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Admitting weakness allows the work of grace to continue in renewing and rescuing the soul. [38:43]

Romans 7:24-25 (ESV)
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Reflection: What one recurring struggle do you secretly shame yourself over? Who in this congregation could you safely tell about it, and what first step toward asking for Christ’s deliverance will you take this week?

Day 4: Good news of great joy for everyone.

The angels’ proclamation in Luke reminds that Advent’s message is inclusive: the good news of great joy is "for all the people"—grace appeared to everyone and continues to be offered. That announcement roots hope in an identity that is open to every person, whether eager, skeptical, broken, or searching. Bringing that good news into daily life means recognizing how Jesus continues to arrive in ordinary moments for ordinary people. [40:02]

Luke 2:10-11 (ESV)
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Reflection: Who on your "list" do you find it hardest to believe the good news is for? What is one simple, compassionate way you can share the message of "good news of great joy" with that person in the coming week?

Day 5: Songs of ascent invite active pilgrimage to God.

The Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120–134) were sung on the way up to the temple, step by step, inviting pilgrims into a posture of present, patient, and purposeful waiting. Advent’s waiting is not passive emptiness but a practice of patient living—an active present-ness that notices God’s arrival in the ordinary. Learning to wait this way turns daily moments into small ascents toward God, where hope is cultivated by faithful attention and trust. [21:59]

Psalm 121 (ESV)
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Reflection: In which ordinary moment of your day could you intentionally "ascend" toward God—turning that moment into a brief, faithful practice of waiting on him? Describe that practice and commit to doing it daily for one week.

Sermon Summary

Advent names the tension we live in: we are waiting and yet God is already with us. I shared a small moment with my grandson and six scones—his generous “Would you like a scone?” quickly followed by his instinct to take one himself. It made me wonder about trust: can I wait, and can I trust that even if my preferred outcome disappears, I will not be left empty because God will meet me? That little scene opened the door to Psalm 130’s journey from lament to hope.

Psalm 130 is honest about the depths: “Out of the depths I cry to you.” Hope begins when we can tell the truth about our ache. Then comes confessional awareness—if God kept score, none of us could stand—yet with him there is forgiveness. That honesty turns us toward a new posture: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits.” The watchman knows morning will come; in the same way, waiting is not wishing but trusting the One whose character is certain. Finally, we hear the promise of “unfailing love” and “full redemption.” The psalm teaches us that hope grows as we move with God through lament, confession, dependence, and confidence.

Advent is the story of descent: Jesus came near, is coming near, and will come again. Titus 2 says grace appeared, grace is teaching and purifying us now, and grace points us toward a blessed hope. Waiting, then, is not passive; it’s showing up to the present moment where grace is at work, becoming the kind of people who are “eager to do what is good.” Henri Nouwen called this “patient living” that is active in the present. So in the space between “please, God” and “whenever it may happen,” let’s not have empty moments—let’s be present to the God who is present to us. Our hope has a name, and his name is Jesus.

Key Takeaways

1. Lament opens the door to hope Naming our sorrow is not a failure of faith but the first honest step toward it. Psalm 130 invites us to cry out and believe God hears with attentiveness and mercy. Without lament, our hope stays thin and theoretical; with lament, our hope becomes rooted and real. [23:54]
2. Waiting engages my whole being Biblical waiting is not passive; it is the alignment of attention, affection, and will to God’s promise. The watchman doesn’t make the sun rise, but he arranges his life around its certainty. So we watch, pray, and keep showing up to the present moment where God meets us. [25:43]
3. Grace appears, forms, and sends Grace is not only pardon; it is power that trains us to say no to lesser loves and yes to a holy life. As we wait, grace is shaping a people eager for good works, not as a performance but as a new desire. Waiting becomes formation, not stagnation. [40:37]
4. Trust God in the in-between Much of life happens between the prayer and the fulfillment. In that gap, God often gives us himself before he gives us outcomes. Trust grows when we release our grip on timing without letting go of expectancy. [19:31]
5. Hope has a name: Jesus Our assurance is not in a plan but a Person—he came, he comes, and he will come again. Because he descended to us, our hope is not fragile or abstract. It rests on his unfailing love and full redemption. [42:59]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[11:56] - Opening Prayer and Invitation
[12:54] - UGM Stockings Update
[14:51] - Advent Resource Mention
[16:13] - Grandson and Scones Story
[20:20] - Advent: Jesus Descends to Us
[22:53] - Psalm 130 Read Aloud
[23:54] - Lament, Forgiveness, Turning
[25:43] - Waiting with My Whole Being
[27:19] - Watchmen and Assurance of Dawn
[28:02] - Unfailing Love and Redemption
[31:58] - Waiting: Henri Nouwen Insight
[37:22] - Titus 2: Grace Appeared
[40:37] - Eager to Do Good Today
[61:57] - Benediction and Call to Action

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading (ESV)
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Observation questions

The psalm begins "Out of the depths I cry to you." What images or feelings does that opening bring to mind for you, and how does the psalmist move from that cry toward hope? [22:53]
Verses 3–4 confess that if God kept a record of sins no one could stand, and yet there is forgiveness with God. What does this honest confession reveal about a person's standing before God? [23:54]
Verses 5–6 say, "I wait for the LORD; my soul waits… more than watchmen wait for the morning." How does the psalmist describe waiting—what actions or attitudes are present in that image? [25:43]
Verses 7–8 promise "unfailing love" and "full redemption." Who is the promise addressed to, and what specific assurance does the psalmist offer? [28:02]

Interpretation questions

The movement in the psalm goes lament → confession → dependence → confidence. How does passing through lament shape a more durable hope than skipping straight to optimism? [23:54]
"Waiting with whole being" is compared to a watchman's certainty about morning. What does that comparison imply about the posture and practices required for biblical waiting (e.g., attention, habits, speech)? [25:43]
Titus 2:11–14 links grace's appearing to moral formation—that grace "teaches" and makes people eager to do good. How does waiting cooperate with grace to change desires and behaviors rather than making believers passive? [40:37]
The scone story shows a child ready to take back the scone after offering it, and it raises the question of baseline trust toward the giver. What does that scene suggest about the relationship between trust in a caregiver and the ability to give away or wait for good gifts from God? [19:31]

Application questions

Name a current sorrow, fear, or "depth" you carry. Will you bring that before God this week in honest lament (saying the pain out loud to God or to a trusted friend)? What specific step will you take to do that? [23:54]
Identify one area where you are anxious about timing (a relationship, healing, work, decision). What concrete practice will you try this week to "wait with your whole being"—for example, a short daily prayer, scripture phrase, or act of service that keeps attention fixed on God rather than the clock? [25:43]
Name one place in daily life (home, work, commute, neighborhood) where you can show up intentionally so grace can form you to be "eager to do what is good." What will you do differently this week to make that moment a site of formation? [40:37]
Think of a time when an expected "scone" didn't arrive and you felt empty or resentful. How might you practice trusting God's presence before outcomes in a similar future situation—what one thought or action could remind you of God's nearness? [19:31]
Who needs to hear or see the hope that has a name—Jesus—this week? What specific words or small, concrete act can you offer this week to point that person toward Christ's unfailing love and redemption? [42:59]
Choose one ordinary daily habit (meal, walk, commute, bedtime) and turn it into a "patient living" practice—an active, present moment to expect God's arrival. What will you do, when, and how will you measure whether it helped you be more present? [32:44]

Sermon Clips

He ended up with a scone, by the way, all right? The story does kind of get there. But I thought, isn't that sort of an interesting experience for someone young? Because I don't know about you, but if I'm in a room, and someone brings half a dozen scones, and there's seven people there, I'm not sure how to do that. Probably going to go grab a knife and offer halves to everyone else, and I'll take that. Right? Like, just, can we, like, the patience and the waiting that this little fella was learning, and yet there was still this wanting to get in there, which makes sense. [00:18:31] (40 seconds) #PatiencePaysOff

And then I thought, what's my baseline of trust? With, could I, can I wait? Can I, or am I, like, wanting to get mine sooner? And I just thought, beautiful illustration, beautiful thing that he went through, beautiful reminder for me to learn how to trust. And what would have happened if the six had been gone at the end? Like, what happens in my heart and my soul? Do I, do I have enough of a baseline of trust to trust God that he, he'll meet me in some way? May not be with a scone, right? Yeah. [00:19:25] (44 seconds) #BaselineOfTrust

That's kind of what we're, that's kind of what we're about here as we, as we enter into Advent, is, is how do we deal with this stuff? Advent is not new to us. It means arrival, right? We get that. Of course, the original Advent was, was waiting for the first coming of Jesus. Well, we know he came. And that's why we're, we're celebrating. That's why this is kind of this interesting little experience that we go through. [00:20:09] (21 seconds) #AdventReflection

Advent is not new to us. It means arrival, right? We get that. Of course, the original Advent was, was waiting for the first coming of Jesus. Well, we know he came. And that's why we're, we're celebrating. That's why this is kind of this interesting little experience that we go through. He, he came. And, and we talk here all the time about, but he continues to come, doesn't he? He, he continues to come around us and in us and through us. [00:20:15] (25 seconds) #AdventIsArrival

And then, of course, I was celebrating yesterday with a number of people here, the, the life of a gentleman who is a part of our church, who is living with the, he came again, right? Like he's got this beautiful opportunity to be with his savior. And we are trusting that God will continue to fulfill and will come again and gather his people with us. [00:20:41] (19 seconds) #HeCameHome

These songs of ascent that Kim referenced are Psalms 120 to 134. Now, when I was doing some reading on this, it said the 15 Psalms. And I was like, no, no, no, there's only 14. Because it stopped at 34. And then I forgot my math that they actually started with Psalm 120. So there's 15 Psalms is what I'm getting at people. And they're, they're, they're songs of ascent. Now, these were songs that were sung by, sung by Israel as they traveled to Jerusalem. Because they would travel to Jerusalem to meet with God. [00:21:01] (38 seconds) #SongsOfAscent

These songs, these 15 songs, actually, some of the commentators were suggesting that they also were songs that would have been sung one stair at a time. There's 15 stairs. The oral tradition in the Mishnah talks about how there were the 15 stairs to the temple. And that they would come and they would stop and they would do 120. And they would go to step two, they'd do 121. And so on, until they got to the top. There was something pretty significant about these songs, Psalms. [00:21:39] (31 seconds) #StaircaseSongs

There was something pretty significant about these songs, Psalms. Yes, Israel would travel to Jerusalem. But we, through the New Testament lens, recognize and understand that these things point to Jesus also. But at Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus descended. Right? He descended. He came near us. It's absolutely beautiful. To bring us hope. To bring us peace. To bring us joy. And to bring us love. [00:22:04] (34 seconds) #JesusBringsHope

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