Make Room for Hope - Advent Devotional

Mon December 1st

Advent is a season of preparation, not just for Christmas, but for the coming of God’s light into our world and our hearts.

I'm so glad you are choosing to take some time out of your days leading up to Christmas to make room for God's light to dwell in your heart. To make room is both an act of hospitality and of faith: clearing the clutter of fear, hurry, and control so that hope, peace, joy, and love can take root.

Each day I want to encourage you to find a candle to light while you prepare your mediation space. We start this week with the candle of Hope. And as you light it may it be a reminder that even a small light can make space for the divine to dwell.

This small daily practice can be a way that you invite the divine to dwell within you and your loved ones as you yearn for Hope and the coming of Christ together. Today I am hoping for this moment to be a way for us to begin building a foundation of spiritual nourishment and filling in our needs so that we can prepare the way for others looking for the hope of Jesus within themselves.

-Aaron Bostwick

Today’s Practice

Light a single candle in your home and sit with it for one full minute or while listening to the song below.

As you listen, watch how the light flickers.

Let the quiet settle around you.

When the minute is over, each person in your home can speak one sentence that begins with:

“I’m hoping for…”

It can be big or small, serious or simple.

Kids can draw their hope if they prefer.

Adults can say it silently if speaking feels vulnerable.

Just make room for hope to be named.

Scripture for Today

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.”

— Isaiah 9:2

(You can read it aloud or simply let it be a breath in your home today.)

A Thought to Hold

Hope doesn’t wipe away the darkness.

It lights a single small flame inside it.

Sometimes that’s all we need to begin again.

Family Question

Where do you see a small light in your life right now?

Prayer

God of Hope, make room in us for Your quiet light.

Let this little flame remind us that You are near, warming what feels cold, softening what feels heavy, and filling our home with Your gentle presence.

Amen.

Share With Your Community

If you feel comfortable, share one of your hopes in the comments below.

Someone reading today may need the encouragement your hope brings.

Tues December 2nd

The theme for this week is "Make Room for Promise." We light the candle of Hope to represent our God of hope. The hope of Jesus. The Hope of Christ on His way.

For me it's kind of funny that we start of Advent with hope because I find "hope" the hardest aspect to reconcile with. I can do "love", "joy" and even "peace" pretty well honestly, but hope?

Hope is scary.

My experience with hope is a human one--hope, in a human sense, can be lost and like most people, I don't like losing.

Part of the miracle of Christmas, as Pastor Gavin mentioned in this week's sermon, is not just that Jesus was born. It's also that God became man. God joined us down in the dirt, the hatred, the pettiness, and the fear and loss.

And lose, Jesus did. Jesus lost friends and even His mortal life during His ministry on earth. Jesus was scared and even tempted in the desert to manipulate outcomes based on the fear things might not work out.

I hope you can join me today to follow in Jesus's steps today to counter some of our fears.

-Kiersten

Today’s Practice

For today's Advent devotional, I want you to find piece of paper and a pencil.

You can start with the hopes you named in yesterday's practice and if you want to list more, do so.

Now bare with me, because we're going to take just a brief second to listen to our anxiety. Take one hope and list out every single one of your fears surrounding it.

• "What if people laugh at me?"

• "What if I fail?"

• "What if things fall through?"

Exhausting, right? Were you able to create an exhaustive list and find every single variable in the universe that could spoil your hope? Or did you eventually call it quits and move on? Take the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert.

What did Jesus do when the devil preyed on His fear and vulnerability?

Jesus rebukes doubt with scripture.

I want you to do the same to your fear. In Response to each and every one of your fears and doubts against hope, What do you know God's promise in response to be?

• "What If I fail? - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

• "I'm too scared - The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?"

(If you're not confident recalling scripture from memory, you can look up scriptural responses to your fears. "What does God say about..." or alternatively, you can meditate and pray on these fears and see what responses God lays on your heart.)

The fears you have listed are not of the hope itself. The fears are of shortcomings, failures and doubts which are based in our own understanding and abilities and not in God. It's not bad to have hope for things in this life. The issue is when we focus on the wrong things and become too dependent on ourselves to fix the problem.

God's promises remain unbroken, but also, even if we doubt, the outcomes are unshakable. Unlike our own promises, which certainly could be dashed, God's promises remain. Even when we fear God doesn't love us, God does.

If we let our anxiety win, at the end of the day, our line of communication with God is still open for prayer. Focusing on God's promises circumvents the needs to control outcomes. God's promises are evergreen. Even if our wishes in life don't always work out, we have eternal promises of peace, hope, love and joy that will always sustain us.

When we feel incapable, God still remains by our side and still gives us the strength to continue.

Prayer

God of Promise,

Your promises are greater than anything a human could hope for. Fix my eyes on what is unseen by my own desires & show me Your greater hope. Ground me in your promises when my anxieties attempt to carry me away.

Amen.

Scriptures for Today

Matthew 4:1-7

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid?

2 Corinthians 4:18

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

A Thought to Hold

Even the tiniest thing is a promise of hope: A friendly text message, a good meal, a hug from family, playing with your dog. God is speaking through these "tiny" blessings. When you count these instead of counting your fears, the list of hopes starts to rival the list of fears in length

Share With Your Community

Have you ever hoped for something dearly that didn't happen the way you'd wanted? What blessings were placed in your life in it's stead?

Lastly, I want you to share a hope or promise for your community rather than for yourself.

Wed December 3rd

Advent is a season of preparation, not just for Christmas, but for the steady coming of God’s light into our world and into our work together.

I’m grateful you’re taking a moment on this Wednesday to pause and reset your heart. Wednesdays sit right in the tension between what has already drained us and what the rest of the week still expects of us. In the middle, we often wonder if we have enough energy, clarity, or faith to keep going.

But that’s where hope lives; not at the start of the journey, and not at the finish line, but right in the middle where we need strength the most.

Tonight, as our worship team gathers to rehearse songs and prepare for next week’s theme of peace, let’s remember: Hope is what carries us from where we are to where peace begins.

Each day I want to encourage you to light a candle as you prepare your space. We stay with the candle of Hope this week, and tonight let it remind you that God meets us in the middle: in the midweek slump, in the unfinished places, in the not-yet answers.

This small daily practice is a way of inviting God to breathe into the places that feel stretched thin. Today, I’m hoping this moment becomes an anchor in the middle of your week, a quiet reminder that God is holding you steady even when the week feels heavy. And together, as a team, may our hope create space for others to encounter Jesus through the songs we prepare and the hearts we bring.

-Aaron Bostwick

Today’s Practice

Today’s practice invites you to listen, to hum, and to remember that hope often begins quietly.

• Find a calm space and light your candle of Hope for the week.

Let the small flame steady your breathing for a moment.

• Play this version of the spiritual Deep River:

  • 
    

• As the music begins, gently hum one single note — Eb.

  You don’t need to match the melody.

You’re simply offering a steady foundation underneath the voices you hear.

• As you hum, let this meaning guide you:

Deep River is an African American spiritual carried by generations who longed for freedom, rest, and the presence of God. When it sings of crossing the “deep river” and going “over Jordan,” it’s dreaming of a future where suffering gives way to safety, belonging, and home. “Campground” points to a place of gathering and peace, a community held close by God. Even in its ache, the song is filled with quiet hope — hope that God is leading His people toward freedom, hope that rest is coming, and hope that a better world is on the other side of the river. Listening to it during Advent helps us remember that hope can rise even in hard seasons, carrying us toward the peace God has promised.

• Let your hum become a prayer.

Feel how your single note holds steady as the river of voices flows around it.

Let that note be your quiet act of hope today.

• When the song ends, rest for 20–30 seconds in silence.

• Then complete this sentence, aloud or silently: “Today, I’m humming hope for…”

Let this practice remind you that hope doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it hums: steady, gentle, and faithful until the river carries us toward peace.

Scripture for Today

"5 So I wait for you, YHWH— my soul waits, and in your word I place my trust. 6 My soul longs for you, YHWH, more than sentinels long for the dawn. 7 People of God, put your hope in YHWH, for with YHWH is abundant love and the fullness of deliverance."

— Psalm 130:5-7

Let it resonate in your home today.

A Thought to Hold

Hope is often a midweek practice.

It’s choosing to trust that morning is coming, even while the night feels long.

Hope whispers, “You’re halfway through. Keep going. Light is already on its way.”

Family / Team Question

Where do you feel like you’re “in the middle” of something, and how might hope meet you there?

Prayer

God of Hope, thank You for meeting us in the middle.

When we feel stretched, tired, or unsure, let Your light steady us. Fill the middle of our week with Your presence, and guide us from hope into the peace You are preparing for us. Amen.

Share With Your Community

If you feel comfortable, share your midweek hope in the comments below. Someone else carrying a heavy Wednesday may need your words to keep going.

Thurs Dec 4th

Today’s Practice:

Get out a Bible. If you don’t have one, Bible Gateway is a good online source.

Recite a story. It can be your favorite, one that gives you trouble, or one that Jesus told as an example. Read it out loud if you’re doing this as a family.

Think about the way that God worked in that story. Did God call someone to act? Did someone

lose faith in God? Did God call someone back into God’s embrace?

Where is HOPE in this story?

Discuss (or if you’re alone, pray and meditate on) how God fulfilled work through a person God

chose, or how someone showed God’s love in the world, or how someone ran from how God

tried to work.

-Pastor Gavin

Scripture for Today

“God has told you, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’”

Hebrews 3:5b-6

A Thought to Hold

God has hope in your actions long before you do.

The book in front of you is full of people who were thought to be ordinary but changed the world forever. How do you think God has used people throughout history in ways that no Biblical author had

been nearby to witness and record?

Family Question

Why could you not say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid”? In what ways do you think God could call you for God’s purposes?

Prayer

Our Abba God, we ask you to wave away the fog of doubts and insecurities that make us doubt our worth or your work through us. Help us to see opportunities to love your children better. Give us courage to change injustice and encourage love in the world. Amen.

Share With Your Community

If you are comfortable, share how God has erased your self-doubt.

Someone might be going through the same thing.

You have power to bring hope!

Fri Dec 5th

Ask someone how they are doing around the holidays and most folks will reply “busy!” We often consider it a blessing to be busy this time of year. There is much to celebrate and many people to do so with. However, some of us enter this season feeling a little less celebratory, a little less busy, and maybe a little less hopeful. Whatever your season looks like - the hustle and bustle of a booked December or the somber warmth of quiet nights at home - I hope that you are able to rest in the promise of something brighter coming. 

Jesus enters the story in scripture foretold generations before his arrival. He is also heralded to his mother and future family. In Luke 1, Mary is shocked and initially afraid of what might happen to her when an angel appears. She accepts the expectation and settles into the anticipation of the Christ child. This season, I encourage you to look ahead with hope and eager anticipation for something great to come. In the hustle and bustle of the season, take moments that you have to be still and be thankful for the things that are coming, even if it’s a little scary at first. Good things are coming.

-Andrew

Today’s Practice

Identify something you are looking forward to or something you hope will happen. It can be something on the calendar during this season, a change you have been praying for, or something else entirely. Write that hope on a small piece of paper or a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it each morning (I like my rearview mirror or laptop).

As you wait, thank God for the opportunity to hope and wait with joy - even if there is a little fear or anxiety in there too.

Scripture for Today

Luke 1:26-38 - The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

A Thought to Hold

God has good things in store for me, regardless of how I am feeling today.

Family Question

What are you looking forward to this season? What are you looking forward to in the future?

Prayer

God of Hope, 

Fill our hearts with anticipation and and thanks for the blessings we have yet to receive. Regardless of what today feels like, we joyfully await the good gifts you share with us, and are grateful for all the ways you have already provided. 

Amen.

Share With Your Community

If you feel comfortable, share one of your hopes in the comments below.

Someone reading today may need the encouragement your hope brings.

Sat Dec 6

Today’s Practice

Sit in silence. Put your phone in another room, on silent.

Maybe you can do this for one minute. Maybe fifteen.

Notice how often you reach for your phone, laptop, tablet, things that are not with you. Try that now. Just be silent with your eyes closed for several minutes.

How’d that go? Many of us can’t do that. It used to be much more common. How long could you stand to sit with only your thoughts? Did you stress out thinking that someone might be trying to reach you?

Did you think about God? Did you think about bills, work, worries about loved ones? Did you think to yourself, “Pastor Gavin is making me so uncomfortable and he’s not even here”?

-Pastor Gavin

Scriptures for Today

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth.”

-Psalm 46:10

“When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.”

-Psalm 4:4

“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven…a time to keep silent and a time to speak..”

-Ecclesiastes 3:1;7b

A Thought to Hold

Many of us fill our time and our hands with more things than we have time for. We are anxious that God won’t work through us if we aren’t always active doing more and more!

Hold onto the hope that God will work through you even when you don’t have the words. Remember that God is your hope, not your business! Prayer [Don’t pray out loud. Don’t try to speak to God. Many of us talk to God all the time and don’t take the time to listen. Put your things down in another room again and Be still and know God. It’s God’s turn to speak. Listen.]

Share With Your Community

How long did you think you had spent alone and silent? How long was it actually? What fills your mind when you are alone?