WHAT ARE YOU hoping for this Christmas? The little kid in me would hear that question in a particular way: What gift do you hope someone will buy you?

I grew up in a middle-class suburban family. We weren’t rich by American standards, and Mom had to feed and clothe us all on the meager grocery allowance my father gave her. As far as I could tell, though, she really knew how to stretch a dollar. Consequently, she raised a son who still flinches at the prices on restaurant menus, automatically scanning for the cheapest thing on the menu.

Still, by world standards, we might as well have been royalty. We owned our own home, in which my sister and I had separate rooms. There were two cars in the garage and money in the bank. We never went hungry. And we had four televisions. Sure, the bedrooms only had black-and-white TVs (some of you may never have seen one of those!); only the living room had a color set. And the screens were tiny compared to today’s flat screen technology; a 19-inch diagonal was a pretty respectable size! But there was no doubt about it. We were more or less keeping up with the Joneses, and we were comfortable.

Because I didn’t grow up in a Christian household, Christmas was all about…presents. Especially as a kid. We didn’t go to church, unless we were visiting my grandparents. I owned a New Testament that my grandmother gave me, but I don’t think I read a page of it until I was at least eleven or twelve. We knew about Baby Jesus but he didn’t get much more attention than Santa Claus. No, Christmas was about the tree, the lights, the ornaments…and the presents.

Definitely the presents.

I don’t remember if Mom ever asked us directly what we wanted. She did at least try to anticipate what we might enjoy. There was, of course, the occasional strategic pseudo-gift: something boringly practical like the new underwear or socks we were going to get anyway, gift-wrapped to make it look like there were more presents for us under the tree. But well over 50 years after the fact, I do remember two times that I was particularly delighted with a gift. I’ve forgotten every other childhood Christmas present except those two.

So…what did I hope for at Christmas? That same delight, the joy of receiving something I really wanted. Typically, it was something I saw in a TV commercial on Saturday morning. Could we afford it? Would Mom buy it? Did I drop enough hints? Even as an adult, there were times that I would drop hints to my wife during the year, only to be disappointed with what she bought.

It took a while for me to grow up and stop playing that childish game. But has anything else changed? It’s sobering to think just how much of my childhood attitude toward Christmas was born out of consumerism and middle-class privilege, and how much that attitude could still assert itself today, if I let it.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Then let me ask the question again: what are you hoping for this Christmas?

THE LITURGICAL SEASON known as Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. It is meant to be a season of preparation, of expectation and anticipation. As believers, we sometimes take the birth of Jesus for granted. We’re no longer hoping for the Messiah to be born; that’s ancient history. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t find ourselves waiting upon God to do something else. And is there any way in which we look forward to, even long for the day of Christ’s return?

Advent traditions vary. One common one involves a wreath with four candles. The first candle is lit on the first Sunday of Advent. Another is lit each Sunday until all four are burning brightly together. And sometimes, a fifth candle is added on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day — the Christ candle, symbolizing the arrival of the Messiah.

Each of the candles has its own symbolic meaning (and sometimes a specific symbolic color as well). The first candle is sometimes called the Prophet’s candle. It symbolizes hope, the longings of God’s people for the coming of their Messiah, the Christ-King.

The New Testament is filled with prophetic hope. Indeed, we can’t fully appreciate the New Testament without understanding how thoroughly it is grounded in the history, vision, and hopes of the Old. What we call the “Old Testament” is what the New Testament writers — and Jesus himself! — would have considered sacred Scripture, and they quote it frequently.

Consider, for example, this passage from Matthew’s story of an angel appearing to Joseph as he wrestled with what to do about his fiancée Mary, who was pregnant, but not by him. He might have quietly broken the engagement if the angel hadn’t told him that Mary was miraculously pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Having told the story, Matthew adds this comment:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matt 1:22-23, NIV)

Matthew is quoting from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, specifically from the prophet Isaiah:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isa 7:14)

We don’t have to read Isaiah as looking forward down the long tunnel of history and having a vision of Jesus. As a prophet, he is bringing an authoritative proclamation from God to a specific people in a specific historical situation; he is telling the people of Judah not to fear how their enemies have allied against them. There’s no way for us to know, unfortunately, what the sign meant or how it was fulfilled.

What we do know, however, is that New Testament writers like Matthew routinely looked back to their sacred texts of old, and found in them signs and symbols of their own present situation. With the benefit of hindsight, they could see how the story of the Old Testament was still unfolding, how God’s hand had been writing the narrative the whole time.

And the story, of course, isn’t over yet.

THAT IS THE essence of Christian hope: we see the present, with all its ups and downs, as part of an ongoing story that’s still unfolding toward a future that God has ordained. The New Testament, of course, can only give us a broad sketch of how history will play out, and it often does so in metaphors and images whose meanings will probably be debated forever.

But again, here’s what we do know: God is good, God is sovereign, and Jesus is coming again. Even if they didn’t realize it at the time, in the mysterious providence of God the prophets spoke of the coming of Jesus at Christmas, what’s sometimes known as the First Advent. And by that same divine providence, there will be a Second Advent.

Let’s face it. The world is broken in ways we can’t fix, and we suffer in ways we can’t control.

So, one more time: what are you hoping for this Christmas?