WAITING FOR THE LIGHT: KINDLING IN ADVENT’S SHADOW

by Jocelyn Watkins, 2026 Illinois/Wisconsin District moderator

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2) 

“My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6)

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

December invites a kind of watchful quiet. Even when life around us hums with activity, the soul leans toward stillness. Scripture reflects that longing when it says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2). Advent is a season that teaches us to wait for that light with expectation rather than fear.

The early Brethren understood this kind of waiting. In their first years, they gathered in homes, barns, and mills, trusting that God was present in the simplest of settings. They worshiped without ornament or spectacle. What mattered to them was not size or polish, but whether Christ was at the center. Even as a small and scattered people, they believed that God could sustain them through every season, including the difficult ones. Their courage was not dramatic, but steady. Their hope was not loud, but sincere.

As we enter this Advent season, I find myself returning to the language of Psalm 130, where the psalmist writes, “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.” There is something deeply Brethren about that image. It calls us to pay attention to the faint horizon, where the first signs of dawn begin long before the world fully brightens. It invites us to trust the light even before we can see it clearly.

I wonder what this kind of watching might look like in our congregations. Many of our churches are still adjusting to new realities, new patterns of leadership, and new questions about the future. Yet I have seen again and again that God’s Spirit often moves in small, quiet ways long before we recognize the fullness of what is happening. A faithful handful planning worship. A revived prayer group. A deeper kindness in how people speak to one another. A willingness to try something new, even if it feels uncertain.

These are not small things. They are signs of the Light already working its way into our winter places.

So this month, rather than offering a single message or a pointed challenge, I invite you to watch. Pay attention to the places where God is already kindling something in your life and in your congregation. It may not be dramatic. It may not be what it used to be. But it may be exactly the ember that needs tending.

The Brethren who came before us trusted God in seasons of both scarcity and abundance. We can trust that same Spirit now. May the quiet, expectant hope of Advent settle gently upon your congregation, and may the coming Light meet you with warmth and renewal.

Peace to each of you in this holy season.

(2026 logo designed by Madalyn Metzger)