November 30, 2025
Advent 25 – Hope
Keisha opened the first Sunday of Advent by sharing honestly from a place of sadness, grounding her message in the deep, enduring Hebrew concept of yachal—a hope that waits, endures, and trusts God even without clarity or guaranteed outcomes. Drawing on her own family’s painful journey with her mother’s terminal diagnosis, she contrasted shallow, wishful ideas of hope with the ancient, tension-filled, faithful waiting reflected in Psalm 130. She reminded the community that Advent is for the weary, the waiting, and the ones still holding onto God in the dark, just as generations before waited for the Messiah they would never see. Advent, she said, teaches us to trust the God who comes close, who chooses to be present in suffering, and invites us to consider what we’re carrying, how hope lands for us, and who can sit with us as we wait.