Anticipation

the big idea:
We’re used to throwing parties to remember what happened in the past. We celebrate an anniversary to remember a wedding day. We attend a high school reunion to celebrate, ahem, our younger years. Similarly, we’re used to throwing parties for things that are happening now, like a farewell or a promotion.

What about celebrating something big… something life changing… something historic… that hasn’t even happened yet?

Our Christmas celebrations look back on Jesus, who took on our human flesh and blood to rescue the world from sin and death. But God’s promise predates even the first Christmas. God launched his rescue plan soon after sin entered the world. Thereafter, countless believers lived through thousands of years with intangible, immeasurable anticipation.

They celebrated Jesus before he was ever born.

As we lean into Christmas this year, our prayer is that we would re-capture the “thrill of hope” connected to this boy child in the manger. We’ll draw on 1000’s of years of anticipation to fuel our own celebrations.

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4-6).