This week we’re starting a new series for Advent.  I’ve entitled it “Unexpected Joy: A Christmas with Jonah.”  This is not your typical Advent story.  And that’s because Jonah is a story of great fear (both good and bad), great humility (both real and fake), great sorrow (for good and bad reasons), and great repentance (both true and false).  It’s a story about a great fish and a great God. 

And there’s so much more.  So many things happen in this book that we not only don’t expect … we just don’t see them coming.  Jonah is about race and nationalism; missions and evangelism; and the struggles believers have to obey and trust God.  Most of all, Jonah is constantly pointing us forward to the One who is coming.  Which is, after all, the point of Advent — pointing us forward to the One who is coming.  It’s a great book that teaches us about a great prophet who points to One greater than himself. 

This week is the 1st Sunday in Advent.  We’ll have our traditional Advent Wreath with candles (electric, but still, candles!), we’ll be reading the traditional Advent stories from the Gospels.  One change from years past – due to the safety restrictions around covid, we won’t be having our Sunday School classes light the candles and do the readings.  Instead, I’ve asked several families to do that for us this year.  We’ve got psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs – all focused on Advent.  And we’ll be posting an Advent Devotional on Realm.

I know it’s been a hard year for most of us.  But let’s do all we can to make it a great Advent season.  Starting this Sunday.  See you then, Dr. Dave