The first theme of Advent is hope. So we begin our new year by looking forward to the end of time, when the weak and defenseless will be protected from the strong and the powerful. When the poor shall be raised up. When the dangers of creation – evil and natural evil – will be no more. Isaiah and the other Hebrew prophets foresaw great and powerful visions of what the world to come will look like, what the reign of God will be. Thanks be to God.
God to whom we give and owe all hope: We long for the day to come when all will be well and no one gets sick, no one gets tired, no one goes hungry. We long for the day that the light will rule and the darkness shall be no more. Please walk with us in these days of darkness and help us ever to remember that the light will always return and will in fact become permanent on that perfect day. So be it.
