A reflection series for Emmanuel Chapel, December 2025
Advent invites us into a sacred kind of waiting: thoughtful, prayerful, hopeful, and attentive to the movement of God. This past Sunday, The Very Rev. Dr. Fagbiye reminded us that Advent is a season of holy anticipation, where we celebrate Christ’s first coming in Bethlehem and look forward with expectation to His glorious return. We wait as people who believe, watch, prepare, and hope.
But Advent is not only about looking outward to Christ’s coming; it also shapes us inwardly. It speaks to who we are becoming in the waiting.
Every one of us at Emmanuel Chapel knows something of this journey; waiting for clarity, seeking God’s direction, navigating family concerns, career transitions, unanswered prayers, and places where we quietly long for God to move. Advent gives language to these realities and invites us to see them through the lens of Scripture, reminding us that in every moment of waiting, God is with us.
That is the heart of our church’s name: Emmanuel – God with us. Not just in Scripture, but in our present lives, our worship, our questions, and our transitions. Advent reminds us that He has come, and He still comes to us.
In this series, we will journey together with four key figures from the Advent story: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, and we will conclude with the shepherds who received the angelic announcement. These are the men and women present in the true biblical timeline of Christ’s birth.Their stories are not simply historical notes; they are spiritual mirrors for our lives:
- Zechariah, wrestling with silence and delayed answers.
- Elizabeth, carrying hope through long seasons of waiting.
- Mary, embracing God’s unexpected call.
- Joseph, obeying God when obedience meant sacrifice.
- The shepherds, encountering God in the ordinary and bringing praise into everyday life.
We will meet them not as distant figures from ancient pages, but as companions guiding us through Advent. In each reflection, we will step into their world and then step back into ours, drawing out wisdom for the daily realities we face: family pressures, decisions we are weighing, the pain of waiting, the joy of breakthrough, and the deep desire to recognize God’s presence in the ordinary, in our daily lives.
Together, as a church, we will discover that:
- God works in silence,
- God honours faithfulness,
- God interrupts with purpose, and
- God reveals His glory to those who are attentive.
Advent reminds us that God comes near, not only in great events, but in quiet faith, daily obedience, and humble expectation. He came once. He will come again. And in the meantime, He is forming us into the people who reflect His light in a waiting world.
Welcome to the journey, to Advent, to Emmanuel – God with us.
Welcome to the people we are becoming.
