“The Season of Hope”

“For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given…” (Is. 9:6).

Advent is the season of hope, a season to remind us that we worship the God of things that are not yet, the God of things that will be. Advent is the season to hold up before us visions of things that sound impossibly remote to us – like weapons of war turned into tools for producing food, the wolf lying down with the lamb, light that the darkness will never quench, a child born of a virgin, whose name shall be called Wonderful, counselor, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Nostalgia for the past, longing for some time or place or person of yesterday, actual-ly robs one of hope. That is why these images of hope in God’s word are big and bold, pointing always toward the future. Sometimes our hope fails because of lack of imagination, lack of courage, or because we fritter away our hope on small, private things, such as a peaceful moment by ourselves, which is nice, and maybe sorely needed, but not as compelling as peace on earth. But if we are honest, we probably would have to admit that it is difficult to hope big. Sometimes our hope seems doomed or just foolish. Are we a little afraid that all those images of hope in God’s word are just wishful thinking? It’s easy to think so when we look to the past – either the past as it actually happened or the past as we imagine it once to have been. Isn’t that part of what causes the disappointment and discouragement for so many during the secular holiday season? That’s why Advent, and our Christian faith, is future-oriented. Yes, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. Yes, he actually died and was buried and rose again and appeared openly to his disciples. Yes, all these things, historically, in the past, happened. But they all happened so that we can live into the future which awaits us, a future for which God is preparing us, a future of which Christ, raised from the dead, is the first fruits. We cannot underestimate the im-portance of our future-focused vision. This forward focus not only give us hope, but how we envision the future breaks into how we live our present. Our future forms our present, rescues it, revitalizes it, and gives it eternal meaning. - Pastor Charles