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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
-Isaiah 9:2
Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
-The Shawshank Redemption
A part of our shared tradition as believers and Presbyterian is Advent. Each week, we light a new candle. This past Sunday was the first Sunday, so we celebrated Hanging of the Greens, including the Advent Wreath and lit the candle of Hope. It's worth visiting this candle, especially in a year like 2020. If ever there was a year that felt hopeless, this has been it. We have suffered the isolation, fear, and division of a pandemic, racial riots, and selfish politicians of all stripes who have demanded our allegiance without suffering with us or leading us to be better. We could be excused for feeling hopeless or ignoring this candle in the darkness or postponing till 2021.
And yet, the scriptures remind us that it is when we walk in darkness that we are sent a light. Arguably, with us as an ally, Israel has never been more powerful in the world, even as a small nation in its region and the world. If asked, most of my teenagers would name Judaism as a major world religion and people group. Over and over, in my confirmation youth name it as a second or third largest faith group. They're always surprised to learn that with roughly 2 billion Christians, and a combined 3.3 billion Buddhist, Muslim, etc. and only 15 million Jews (0.18%), Judaism isn't the great power or group they think. Even the adults I teach are shocked to learn that roughly 90% of the modern state of Israel is secular, rather than religious. So when we say that the Israel we read about in the time of Christ is FAR LESS powerful, ruled by the Roman Empire, and the faith was besieged by infighting that was not eyes open to the Messiah Jesus came to be, it was a darkness we can scarcely imagine. They didn't want hope. They needed it. We don't want hope. We need it.
The America of 2020 is so deeply in need of hope. We are under the power of a world-wide virus, deeply entrenched racism, and deeply partisan culture. The darkness in which we walk is so similar to the darkness of occupied Israel in which innocents were slaughtered by Herod's order to eliminate his Prince of Peace rival. We need the hope that the great physician and healer will send inspiration and wisdom to our healthcare workers. We need the hope that a brown man who spent his formative years as a refugee in a foreign land can teach us to be welcoming and justice-seeking for our downtrodden neighbors whose families were kicked off their land or killed as natives, brought here as slaves, interred during WWII, or used as canon fodder in every war we've fought for over 200 years, and the hope that he teaches us how to welcome those desperate to find shelter here. And we need the hope that a man who sought to be King of our hearts and lives and not political leader of worldly concerns brings by calling us to living as people of light and not part of the darkness in which we live. Our hope is for a future in 2021 and beyond is within our grasp because Christ has called us to do the work of Hope with him. And I believe our hope is in following that two thousand year old call from darkness to life.
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