Hello Darkness

Advent began two Sundays ago. Each of the four weeks holds a theme: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. As believers prepare for the coming of the Christ child, these ideas stand as part of the anticipation for when God himself will move into the neighborhood.

But the first one, hope, is a challenge in less-than-hopeful times like ours. Dark thoughts and deeds and events drain hope from life. Simon and Garfunkel sang about this in the opening line of their familiar song.

Hello, darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again

Three days a week I ride my bike to the geezer gym a few miles from home to row and visit with friends I see only there. There is a group of regulars who show up most every day to exercise in an attempt to keep the old man out. This mostly older cadre gets up early to do their routine, just like me. But this time of year, leaving the house at 5:35am to make the 6am opening and claim my machine means riding in the way dark and cold. Not so fun.

As I ride in these many weeks of darkness I look for hints of the return of the sun, scanning the horizon out east for the barest hint of light. I know it will come, but its faithful return can’t come soon enough.

Riding, I can’t sense enough of my surroundings to relax. There is little I can see beyond my headlight and I’m banking on my reflective gear to warn drivers balancing both coffee and phone, to not run me into a ditch. Just this morning I picked up a screw hiding in the shadows and flatted a tire. Dark riding can be tough.

Living in the dark is tough, too. A Christmas cloud, that uninvited shadow December brings to many, can leave people with split emotions: Decking the halls while dealing with some amount of emotional sadness over any number of issues. These days can feel dark, and then comes guilt or shame over why my insides are not filled with tinsel and tiny lights.

Darkness is real and can be littered with the fears of what might be hiding in the shadows, like that dang screw. A writer I’ve come across, Heather Day, says, “The hardest part of faith is standing ten toes deep in the gaps of these dark places.”

Maybe that’s why one of the first acts of God in Genesis records him commanding, “Let there be light!” And just maybe that’s been a theme of God from that moment to now: Shining light into dark places, shadowed times, and onto greyed-out lives.

Advent looks for the arrival of light in the form of Hope that dispels the dark once and for all time and for all people. Psalm 139 says that to FatherSonSpirit darkness and light are all the same, but to us, we need the hope that the light will come.

Hope, as the first theme in Advent, is just what we need. Not wishful thinking but a firm confidence that our soul’s winter will end, just like my riding to the gym will, in time, be again in the light. Part of Zechariah’s song of praise in Luke 1 echoes this.

Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us in the path of peace.

Pastor and author Daniel Darling puts it this way.

You may not be feeling the light this Christmas. Your world may seem dreary, full of grief and woe. I’ve known this feeling. I’ve walked among those who could only see darkness. Yet Advent offers us genuine hope inside our groaning. God became flesh, inhabited our world, and—by his life, death, and resurrection—defeated the darkness that envelops the world, envelops us.

In the Book, darkness is used around 150 times. When you are in a dark place, remember…remember, you are not the only one. It can be so tempting to embrace the conceit that there is no way forward and any chance for change is at best a long shot. Dark spaces are inevitable, but God says, by Jesus joining in right with us, it will not last forever. Dawn is coming. Hold fast to what you know is true.

That is the message of Advent! Isaiah predicted it.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.

Get ready for the light to come, but don’t set it on your timetable. In the meantime, charge your batteries, turn on your light, don reflective gear, layer up for the cold, and ride. Hope anchors us to the truth that the dawn will come, and when it does, Peace and Joy and Love will surely follow.

Let’s ride!

Funnies for the week are right here

In a small town, farmers of the community had gotten together to discuss some important issues. About midway through the meeting, a wife of one of the farmers stood up and spoke her peace.

When she was done, one of the old farmers stood up and said, “What does she know about anything? I would like to ask her if she knows how many toes a pig has?”

Quick as a flash, the woman replied, “Take off your boots sir, and count them yourself!”

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Two guys came into the college dorm cafeteria whooping and hollering; excitedly slapping each other on the back as they were getting their food.

The attendant asked what they were celebrating and they announced, “We finished a puzzle in only four months!”

The attendant was confused and said, “What’s the big deal?”

One of the men joyfully answered, “The box top said ‘2 to 4 years’!”