We launched our new series, the Gospel of Luke, by opening with Luke 1:1-25, the story of Zechariah, a faithful priest who found himself standing exactly where God needed him to be at precisely the right moment. In what looked like an ordinary day of service, God was moving to fulfill promises spoken generations earlier through the prophet Malachi. Luke wants us to see from the very beginning that God’s timing is perfect, His Word is trustworthy, and His plans unfold even when we don’t see it happening. As we stepped into the first Sunday of Advent, we named how this season calls us to look back in gratitude for God’s faithfulness and forward in hopeful expectation for what God will do. Zechariah’s story is a living reminder that God is always at work — even in the silence, even in the waiting, even when the prayers feel long unanswered. We also reflected on the difference between simply waiting and waiting with anticipation. Advent invites us into the latter: a posture of hope, trust, and expectation that the God who kept His promises then is the same God who keeps His promises now. My prayer for us this week is that, like Zechariah, we would remain faithful in the everyday moments, trusting that God knows where we are and is preparing something far greater than we can see.

