Advent: A Voice Cries Out: A 4-Week Series

Week 1—Hope in the Wilderness  

In this session, students will explore the theme of Judgment as Hope. We’ll start with a disorienting dilemma through an article by Rev. Ben DeHart, “The Alarm Clock of God”. This article reframes judgment as a sign of God’s care and justice. Students are invited to wrestle with their own assumptions about judgment, reflecting on what surprised them and where they noticed hope within the tension in the article and in themselves. Through guided discussion, they consider how culture often portrays judgment negatively, and how that contrasts with a theological understanding rooted in scripture, particularly Matthew 3:1-12, where John the Baptist calls people to repentance as a preparation for God’s nearness. The session concludes with a reflective activity in which students name the voices decrying messages of hopelessness and then embody voices of hope for themselves.

Scripture—Mark 13:24-37

Week 2—Preparing for Peace

This week’s session explores the relationship between peace and death through the film Tuesdays with Morrie and Jesus’ own journey toward the cross. In the spirit of Advent, which invites us to sit with longing and anticipation before the arrival of light, students will reflect on surrender, fear, grief, and the peace found in Christ’s victory over death. Through discussion and scripture, they will wrestle with both capital “D” Death and the smaller daily “deaths” that come through forgiveness, humility, and letting go of control. The hope is that students will begin to see that peace is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God in the midst of it. Advent reminds us that we wait in the darkness, but we do not wait alone—death doesn’t get the final word, and peace can still be found in the most difficult of times.

Scripture—Mark 1:1-8