#140: Advent: Hope

We will revisit a well-worn story of a God who loves nearness with us and whose hallmark and name bear His With-ness.

A story that started in the garden and ends in eternity. 

A story of a God who has taken the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, AND who put on flesh and dwelt among us. 

A story of the infinite turned infant. 

A story of a God whose kingdom has come, is here now, and will be forever. 

A story of 400 years of silence broken by the cries of a baby. 

A story of a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and started His life in the trough of cows. 

This is the story of hope.

For the next four weeks, we will follow the themes of the Advent candles we light each Sunday:

• Today, in Episode 140, we'll speak of hope
• Next week, we'll speak about faith
• In our third week together, we'll speak of joy
• And our final week of Advent – and our final episode of 2022 – we'll speak about peace.

Key Quotes

• "Hope is a gift as good as done." - Jill E. McCormick
• "Because Jesus is hope and Jesus is life, the opposite of hope is death." - Jill E. McCormick
• "Death is the sound of an apple crunching. And hope is the sound of the cry of a baby, the hammer of a nail through divine flesh, the grinding of a gravestone rolling along loose gravel." - Jill E. McCormick
• "The Christmas story is the story of the infinite turned infant." - Jill E. McCormick

As Mentioned in the Podcast

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• #94: Advent: The Lord is coming!
• #95: Advent: The story of Mary + Joseph
• #96: Advent: The shepherds + the wise men
• Detoured by Jen Babakhan
• Mythical Me by Richella Parham
• What's Here Now? by Jeanne Stevens
• Grace In Real Life book giveaway
• #81: Get Unstuck: Your identity with Jen Babakhan
• #129: God, grace + emotions: Radical grace for your distracted, swirling brain with Jeanne Stevens
• #127: God, grace + emotions: Practical grace when you feel not enough with Richella Parham

Here's how to connect with Jill

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