“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9: 2
Advent is a time of waiting. Sometimes we are tempted to rush into Christmas with angels heralding, and shepherds oooing and awing over a cute little baby.
But we are to wait, to hold back our joyous celebrations until Christmas day. Each year, the time changes and the darkness descend upon us earlier and earlier in the evening. We are drawn back to our homes, hoping we left the porch light on.
Recently, I met my husband and son for dinner after our middle school aged son got out of school at 4:30. We got to the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely dinner honoring the veterans of our country’s military. As we left the restaurant an hour and half later, it was dark, dark, dark! We drove home under the comfort of street lights that began to disappear as we got closer to our home. We arrived at home and the porch light was not on. IT WAS DARK!
Huddling close together, clutching our packages from the day, we moved quickly to the front door, and inside the house. Our first act upon opening the front door is to turn on a light. We could not stand the darkness any longer.
As Christians, we are like this in our journey to Christmas Day when we can celebrate the birth of our Savior. Our journey is in the darkness of the world, as we await our Savior’s arrival both as a baby and as the reigning King of Kings. We need to take time in the dark nights to reflect upon our Christian journey and how we share the hope we have in Christ with those around us. People are clamoring for hope these days. The world is a bleak, scary place but we Christians know God is faithful always and calls us to be faithful too.
Our hope is in the Risen King who once was an innocent baby born into a dark world. Sometimes, we need the darkness to remind us of the hope we have in the Light of the World.
~ Rev. Cindy
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