The second candle of Advent is the Faith candle.

If hope is a construct built primarily on our thoughts, then faith is taking those thoughts and molding them into a fixed and solid belief system. As the writer of Hebrews shared: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

You are in or out with faith—there is no middle ground with Christ. Faith says “yes”

Mary is an example of such faith in action. Mary said “yes” when she was greeted by Gabriel’s message of her virgin birth. Joseph also said yes when faced with the delicate task of supporting Mary through his miraculous but difficult journey. Even the Shepherds responded in faith when visited by the Angel Gabriel. They all declared, “we believe” and then moved their feet” (which we will look at a bit more next week.) Faith is not about ease.

It’s okay to be uneasy about responding to God’s call in your life. It’s not always our emotions that are sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. It’ is our faith–our fixed and solid belief system that says “yes” to Christ as we understand him through His Word.

But, Mary exemplifies what our response should always be:

“I am the Lord’s servant. May Your word to me be fulfilled.”

And today–we celebrate–God does what He says He will do. Mary, the virgin mother, did indeed bring forth a child, and she named him Jesus—The Hope of the world. And you can put your faith in that.