A message from the Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane on the season of Advent and the hope of Christmas. A text version is below the video screen.
In one of my favorite Advent books, theologian Wendy Wright talks about Advent as the season of yearning for fulfillment. It’s the time when we allow ourselves to experience the contrast between the world as it is and the world we hope for. It’s the time when we hear again God’s promise of fulfillment, of unity with God and one another, and we allow ourselves to believe it.
In a world that is so out of joint in so many ways, it’s easy for us to tell a story of sadness and loss. It’s easy to think of our time as one of fading glory and promises unkept.
Yet, for all the difficulties of our day, there’s another story we might tell: a story about something good just over the horizon. The human heart yearns for fulfillment, for wholeness. Whether it’s a primordial memory or a spiritual hunger, we cannot let go of the possibility that a world better than one we see awaits us. And it doesn’t take much to get our hearts pounding with hope. It doesn’t take much for us to shed tears of joy.
Our Christmas celebration doesn’t actually offer very much. Just a child in a stable. But that infant, that helpless human being, is not only the sign of God’s presence with us, but is the reality of that presence. The world is full of many sad things. But that’s not the whole story. The world is also full of promise, of glimmers and glimpses of God’s better world.
I suspect many of you are feeling a bit battered this Advent. I know I am. But then there’s that baby. May God grant you glimmers and glimpses of the world God promises. And may you embrace it with every fiber of your being. May hope bloom in your heart, and may you be a sign of hope to others.
Merry Christmas.
Bishop,
This is beautiful, brief yet to the point and right on!
Thank you.
Merry Christmas