Advent Reflections:  From Despair to Hope

The verses of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" remind us that Advent is a journey from whatever despair has seized the human spirit to an active hope in the Second Coming of Christ. The problem is that so many of us have worked hard to let nothing of the world and its misery touch us. Cocooned in the illusion of comfort, we have become spectators. We are detached from what hurts our global neighbors and in denial about what hurts at home. Small wonder that we are inclined to rush from the pensiveness of Advent into the joys of Christmas and Epiphany.

Yet the truth is this: No matter how intently we work to isolate ourselves from human misery, we cannot escape the reality that the human family experiences unbearable suffering. We mourn in lonely exile here — hoping, waiting for something or someone to divert us from the many roads leading to our destruction. Come Emmanuel; come Son of God; come!

In your preaching this Advent season, take us by the hand and lead us on this journey from despair to hope. Allow your context to shape the way that you approach the task. For some, your job will be to remind worshipers that they have not been permanently abandoned to an existence where socially disoriented youths feel that gangs hold more potential for community than your youth group and where 92 year-old women are shot and killed in drug mishaps. God has a better plan for our lives — as evidenced by the fact that Christ has come once and Christ will come again. In other worshiping communities, your task may be to help us stop avoiding the unpleasant truths that we have been dodging. Your congregation may need to notice that all will not be well with everyone, even among their numbers, until the Son of God appears in victory and glory.

Advent was never meant to be a month-long fa-la-la-la-la. Instead, Advent is a time to remember just how much the whole world needs Christ.