We’re already at week 4!

I see from various pictures of the advent candles that there is no universal agreement on what these weeks are called. Some have Hope, Peace, Joy, Love. I’ve used: Hope, Faith, Joy, Peace. It doesn’t matter: the world is short of all of these things, and Jesus’ coming brings the promise of their fulfillment.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5. 1 – 5, ESV, emphasis mine)