Week One - Hope

Every year, when we turn our clocks back an hour I dread the darkness that will inevitably be both my ride into work and my ride home. That’s why I look forward to putting up my Christmas lights. There’s something about watching those small bulbs flicker to life against the cold evening sky that brings a sense of beauty and hope. When the world feels heavy and the daylight fades early, I need to see light breaking through. It reminds me that hope still shines.

Isaiah spoke of people walking in darkness who suddenly saw a great light. That light was not an idea or an escape. That light spoken of would find its fulfillment in Jesus. He came into a broken and weary planet as the Light of the World, shining into every place where sin, sorrow, and despair have taken hold. Sometimes, the darkness feels closer than we would like to admit. Maybe it is grief that will not let go, a relationship that has fractured, anxiety that keeps us awake, or fear that quietly takes root in the depths of our minds and hearts. Whatever the darkness looks like, the hope that dawned in Bethlehem will meet us there. As the shepherds watched the night sky blaze with the glory of angels, heaven declared that light had come. Every strand of lights we hang at Christmas echoes that truth. You see, hope is not the absence of darkness. It is the presence of Christ within it. The night is real, but so is the light, and light always vanquishes the dark.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.” Isaiah 9:2