Our theme for December is Expectation. All month, we’ll be answering the question: “What does it mean to be a people of expectation?”

Expectation can have both positive and negative connotations. There are those expectations that we must seek to live up to – the expectations of parents, friends, society, ourselves, that seem too high for anyone to achieve. When the Worship Associates brainstormed about expectation, the first things that came to mind were unrealistic expectation, and the disappointment that often follows.

At the same time, expectation can be about anticipation and hope. December is a good time for this kind of expectation, as Christians await the birth of Jesus, Jews wonder how long the menorah will stay lit, and all of us yearn for the the moment when we can say the world is turning back towards the sun. It is a season of hope, a season of expectation.

Expectation can be downright ordinary as well. We expect the sun to rise each morning. We expect that some day we will die. We expect it to rain sometimes, and snow sometimes, and sometimes for the sun to shine bright upon us. We live in expectation, trusting our world to continue as it has.

What does it mean to be a people of expectation? It means we embody all of these things: disappointment, hope, and the ordinary. We live in anticipation, in dreams. We wait and we wonder. We trust that a new day will dawn.

Blessings,

Allison