Suggested Readings: Psalm 79; Micah 4:1-5; Revelation 15:1-8
Yesterday, Sunday, December 3, was the first Sunday of Advent. Many churches and many families lit the first candle of the Advent wreath. Having grown up in the Southern Baptist tradition, Advent was a foreign tradition to me. Ironically, I first saw an Advent wreath at St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky during my years as a seminarian. I instantly fell in love with the Advent wreath and all the traditions of Advent. My family has the tradition of lighting the family Advent wreath on Sunday evenings during Advent as we sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, adding an additional verse each week. As the Sundays of Advent progress, the wreath grows brighter and the hymn grows longer. Finally on Christmas Eve, we light the Christ Candle and sing Silent Night. As many of you know, each of the four Sundays of Advent are represented in the Advent wreath, and traditionally a different aspect of faith is represented each week in this order: hope, peace, joy, and love.
On this Monday of the first week of Advent, I ponder the theme of hope. A common saying is that hope is the most irrational of emotions. As I write these words my heart is heavy because of the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians. All the way around, the present situation is horrific for all concerned. For many of us, the situation is unimaginable because we have not experienced the magnitude of generational trauma on both sides of this conflict. The enigma of finding a solution to horrific violence in long-standing disputes has always perplexed humans.
Our Scripture passages reflect the volatility of our thoughts in the wake of destruction. Psalm 79 is a gut-wrenching response to the devastation of war. Micah 4:1-5 is a reassurance that in the end all things will lead to justice and mercy in a divine renewal. Revelation 15:1-8 shows both sides—vengeance and peaceful harmony. So, what is going on here in this arrangement of biblical passages? I always tell my students in my Understanding the Bible course that I want them to understand two ideas as we approach the Bible: (1) Their stories are our stories; and, (2) We are being invited into a conversation about what truly matters in life. The complexities of life can overwhelm us. I have found in my life experience times that I was overwhelmed with anxiety, or with depression, or with what seemed like an insurmountable grief. Hope at times does seem irrational. In life’s hardest passages, reason never lifted me out of the miry pit. But as the old gospel hymn proclaims, “love lifted me.” Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but hope renewed inspires us to dare to believe that God loves everybody and however we say it—salaam, shalom, peace—is possible when we receive rather than reject the other.
Marty Bell
