Dear Friends in Christ,
It can be a challenge to maintain hope in a world as dark as ours, as we witness the tragic war in Ukraine drag on, watch innocent people across America continue to fall victim to our national love affair with guns, and remember that some countries have been plagued by violent conflict for a very long time (e.g., Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali, Haiti, Myanmar, Venezuela, Honduras, to name a few). Where is the good news in all this, I want to ask myself?
And yet, when I start to feel such despair overtake me, I remind myself that the Christian faith was born into a world every bit as violent as ours. Indeed, in an important respect the whole point of the Incarnation, of God coming into our world, was precisely to confront humanity’s violent ways so that we might be saved from ourselves. And the fact of the matter is that God did not allow the darkness to extinguish the light then, and He will not now. This is the conviction of Advent.
This theological truth is beautifully captured by the writer Madeleine L’Engle in her poem “First Coming.” I always go back to it during the season of Advent and I commend it to your prayers.
First Coming by Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready, till men and nations were at peace. He came when the Heavens were unsteady, and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time. He came when the need was deep and great. He dined with sinners in all their grime, turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure. In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt. To a world like ours, of anguished shame he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh, to heal its tangles, shield its scorn. In the mystery of the Word made Flesh the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane to raise our songs with joyful voice, for to share our grief, to touch our pain, He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Blessings, Pastor Luther