Season of Hope

As the present’s start finding there way under the tree, the child in each of us starts guessing what is in each box. I remember as a child picking up a box to examine its shape, give it a few shakes, and listen for any noise to speak from the other side. The mix of sugar in chocolate fudge and the spirit of expectation can create a stimulating time the weeks leading up to Christmas.

For others the season of expectation is not one of hope but of despair. Despair is all around us – from the streets of Ferguson to the abandoned dreams of a child. A person waits to see if their job is the next one cut, a homeowner loses their American dream, a cancer patient waits to see the results of weeks of treatment, a teenager waits to see if that one night of passion is going to turn into a lifetime of responsibility, an older adult works a second career to take care of grandchildren, or a business owner who is closing the doors on her dreams. If I were to ask you, “Are you more fearful today than you was this time last year?” Many of us would answer, “Yes!”

Dante in his portrayal of hell, put at the entrance of hell, “Where all hope is left out – there, it is hell.” Despair is the attitude that believes that it will be impossible for one to obtain the things that should be hoped for. Despair leads to being apathetic. It is thinking that one cannot be reached by the grace of God. Despair brings us to a halt. It stops us from looking forward and thinking high.

Every person has a choice today in how they will live their lives. We can focus on our badness, our failed attempts at life, our weaknesses, our sickness, our brokenness. Or we can focus on God’s goodness that is revealed in Jesus. It is a choice between despair and hope. The message of Christmas gives us the option for a choice. The story of Christmas is a story of hope. It is the story of God still believing in us.

In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “For surely, I know the plans I have for you . . . . to give you a future with hope.” In Proverbs 23: 18 we are told there is a future and our “hope will not be cut off.” In I Peter 1: 3 it says we are given new birth into a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” In the same book we are told we can set our hope on God (I Peter 1: 21). The scriptures are full of passages telling believers that in Christ we have no reason to despair and yet all the reason to be hopeful. “The eye of the Lord is on those who hope in God’s steadfast love” (Psalm 33:18).

Advent is the season of expectation. Yes, it arrives this year to the drumbeat of negativity attempting to lower our expectations of hope. But Advent carries with it the subversive news that God is near. God is among us. And as long as God is the One among us, there is always the possibility for deliverance.

Merciful God, lead us to Bethlehem that we might discover again the hope found in Jesus. Amen.