“The Longing of Advent” - Traditional Service

In this Advent sermon, Alex Cain invites the church into the beginning of a new liturgical year by exploring Advent as a season of waiting marked by both hope and honest recognition of darkness. Rather than focusing only on preparing for Christmas, the sermon highlights Advent’s historic emphasis on Christ’s Second Coming—His return as the risen and reigning King who will judge, restore, and set all things right. Through Scripture’s imagery of light and darkness, Alex shows how Advent places us alongside ancient Israel in longing, yearning, and watching for God’s promised redemption. Even as we experience the brokenness of the world—violence, injustice, corruption, suffering—we also receive a foretaste of Christ’s light through His Word, His Spirit, and His church. Advent calls us to stay awake, to walk in the light, and to hold fast to the hope that the same Jesus born in Bethlehem will one day return in glory to banish darkness forever.