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Rusty George: Picture this.

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It's the fourth century.

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You walk into a church in Spain, there's
nothing on the calendar labeled Advent,

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no wreaths with candles, no countdown
calendars, no target run for decorations.

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Christmas as we know it barely
exists, but something stirring.

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Church leaders are asking this profound
question, how do we prepare for something

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as significant as God becoming human?

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That song, it gets me every year.

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You know why?

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Because for a lot of people,
Christmas isn't the most wonderful

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time of the year for a lot of people.

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It's actually the worst.

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That question those early church
leaders asked 1700 years ago, it

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still matters, especially when your
December feels more like a series

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of sprints than a sacred season.

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Let's be honest, the world
in 2025 feels anxious.

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Over 280 million people worldwide are
dealing with depression right now.

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Anxiety is off the charts,
especially for young adults.

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I read a stat that said suicidal
ideation has doubled in some

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population since the pandemic.

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Political polarization
has fractured communities.

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We've got this us versus
them thing going on.

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That just undermines our trust in each
other and in our society's institutions.

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And maybe you're feeling it right now.

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Maybe your job is crushing you.

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Maybe your family's a mess.

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Maybe you're scrolling through social
media wondering why everyone else's life

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looks perfect and yours feels messy.

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Isaiah nine two speaks directly into this.

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The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light on those

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living in the land of deep darkness.

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A light has dawned now, when Isaiah
wrote this, around 700 bc Israel

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wasn't going through a rough patch.

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They were experiencing the
gloom of Assyrian oppression.

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Moral decay, spiritual despair,
the regions of Zebulon and Naftali,

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basically Galilee were the first
territories devastated by invasion.

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These places were dismissed,
despised, forgotten.

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And here's what gets me about
this phrase, deep darkness.

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The word in Hebrew is TAs.

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It's the same word used in Psalm 23.

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The valley of the shadow of death.

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These people weren't just
passing through darkness.

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They had made it their home.

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Does that sound like where
you're living at the moment?

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But here's what Isaiah does.

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That's so brilliant.

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He writes this prophecy in the past tense.

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He describes future events as
if they've already happened.

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It's called the Prophetic Perfect.

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God wasn't offering a,
maybe he was declaring.

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Your future hope in the Messiah.

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It's already done.

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The Victory's already won.

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You just have to see it by faith.

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That's the setup, that's the tension.

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God says light is coming
and people are like, when?

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How?

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So let's rewind way back
Old Testament times.

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In the Old Testament,
waiting wasn't passive.

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It was an active posture
of trust in the middle of

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uncertainty, suffering, and exile.

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Isaiah writing during Israel's darkest
hours when exile and Babylon seem

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permanent and hopeless scarce, he tells
this despairing people, those who wait

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upon the Lord, will renew their strength.

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This wasn't greeting card language.

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This was a divine lifeline.

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The Jews expected the Messiah to be
a powerful military and political

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leader, a rescuing king who'd kicked the
Romans out and restore Israel's glory.

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Isaiah's prophecy about wonderful
counselor, mighty God, prince of peace.

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They weren't thinking
about a baby in a manger.

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They were thinking triumphant,
ruler, restoring an empire.

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But if you're familiar with the
story, you know that something

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completely different happens.

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Jesus shows up, Galilean prophet, he
gets crucified by Rome, and the Christian

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movement faces this unprecedented crisis.

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Wait a minute, our Messiah
came, but not like we expected.

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He didn't restore the kingdom.

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He didn't drive out the Romans.

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He died.

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But then something extraordinary happens.

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They're saying he rose.

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And almost immediately early Christians
found themselves waiting again.

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But this time with a revolutionary twist.

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The first generation of believers
thought the second coming was imminent.

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Jesus told them he was returning
in Acts one as the resurrected,

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Jesus ascends to heaven.

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His disciples asked, are you
finally restoring the kingdom?

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Jesus says, you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon

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you, and you will be my witnesses.

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No date, no timeline.

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Just wait.

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The early church lived in what
scholars call realized eschatology.

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The kingdom was both already
here, Jesus resurrection and the

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Holy Spirit and not yet complete.

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Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, expecting
Christ return within his own lifetime.

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Peter declared the end of all
things is near, but by the second

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century, Jesus hadn't returned.

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Decades, had passed.

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Eyewitnesses were dying.

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This created what scholars called the
delay of the Perusia crisis, a fundamental

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challenge to the Christian identity.

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Most churches eventually settled
into this middle position.

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Christ will return eventually, but we
should settle in for the long haul.

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that's when they realized if you're
waiting indefinitely for someone, you need

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structured practices to sustain that hope.

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By the late fourth century, Christmas
emerged as a feast day, and the

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church needed a season to prepare.

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The word advent comes from Latin
Adventist coming, happening or arrival.

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It is the same root word
that we have for adventure.

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It translates the Greek perusia,
which refers both to Christ's birth

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and his promised second coming.

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Here's what's fascinating.

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Early advent had a double focus.

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The first weeks reflected
on Jesus' return in glory.

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Chastening hearts confessing
sins the last week's.

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Turn to his birth and the manger.

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We've kind of lost that.

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So here's where we land.

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Why does Advent still matter in 2025?

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Because Advent is about
three perspectives.

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Christ's birth in Bethlehem the past,
his reception in our hearts today in

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the present, his promised return to
make all things right in the future.

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This is the already and not yet
tension that defines Christian hope.

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That scene gets me every time
because sometimes the only way to

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get outta that dark place and hope
again is to cry out to God for help.

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Listen, Jesus light cuts through darkness
and ways no self-improvement plan can.

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Isaiah wasn't describing a
candle flickering in a cave.

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He was prophesying sunrise.

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The kind of blazing, undeniable
light that drives out every shadow.

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Christ didn't come to help us cope
with darkness a little better.

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He came to obliterate it, for us
in a time of climate, anxiety,

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political fragmentation, pandemic,
aftermath, this practice of

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bounded waiting and grounded hope.

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It's not escapism, it's resistance.

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So what do we do?

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Acknowledge darkness.

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Honestly, advent doesn't ask us
to pretend everything's fine.

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It invites us to face the brokenness
in society, in our families, and

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our souls, and lean into what NT
Wright calls an almost cosmic ache.

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Number two, practice active waiting.

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This isn't passive resignation.

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It's expectant preparation.

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How can we make room for
Christ by serving others?

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Third light Advent Candles weekly create
tangible practices, especially for kids to

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train hearts, to watch and wait for Jesus.

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Advent still matters because
darkness still matters as long as

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people walk in the shadow of death.

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Depression, broken relationships, fear
the promise of light breaking through

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matters desperately, and Jesus still
matters more than ever because he is

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the light the world cannot overcome.

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Not a flickering candle,
a blazing sunrise.

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This advent as you prepare for Christmas.

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Remember, you're not just remembering
a baby born 2000 years ago.

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You're proclaiming that light of the world
has come, is here now by his Holy Spirit

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and will return to make all things new.

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This season begins not with
abundance, but with candlelight

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and darkness, a single flame.

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As the weeks progress, more candles are
lit, bit by bit more light breaks through.

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By Christmas, we arrive at the white
candle of Christ's presence and we've

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been slowly educated through our bodies,
our community, our stories, our prayers

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into the knowledge that light does
overcome darkness, that Christ does come,

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and that we can live in hope next week.

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Hope in the waiting until
then, keep it simple.