Advent: Waiting

The theme of darkness and light recurs throughout advent. The two sacred texts for today bookend the season of advent: advent is about being in the first passage of Isaiah, dwelling in the land so dark, it is in the shadow of death—but waiting, hopefully, expectantly for the promise of that second passage: the shining forth of the great light.
We’ll sing a verse from O Come, O Come Emannuel each week during advent. The verse for this week—by design— pairs beautifully with the sacred text for this week: we sing from the darkness, imploring the light to come:

O come, Thou Day-Spring, from on high,
and cheer us by Thy drawing nigh.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to
flight.

And then, the refrain of hope that we proclaim throughout season:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Advent was originally a time of fasting, with the color purple like at Lent; a time of preparation for the coming of the light, of recognizing the darkness we dwell in. This is why John the Baptist, preaching the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, why he is an advent figure. But Advent has developed into a season of hope amidst the darkness. But you can still hear the edge in the traditional prophetic texts.

So listen again to Isaiah: “Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; We wait for light, a lo! There is darkness.”

What darkness do you wait in? We live amidst darkness, all of us. You are not alone. We light candles and put up decorations to dispel the vary physical darkness of winter—but there is a darkness we can’t dispel.

The prophetic texts describe the darkness that befalls the entire world: justice is but far away, and righteousness might be moving toward us, but isn’t here yet. The world is broken, but we are looking forward to the coming of the One who will show us the New Way, the way to live in the realm of God.

The Good News is that we are a people of the light. It is because we look forward to the coming of the Light of the World that we can name the darkness, and face it with hope. In the middle of all the trials we bear, even at life’s very bleakest, we can—a little piece of us at least--- we can rejoice, becuas we known Emmanuel has already come. And even in the bleak midwinter of our lives, we can trust that God’s love is constantly breaking into the world, that spring will come.