December Focus - Hope

The month of December marks the beginning of the Advent season. In rush of Christmas preparations and parties Advent often gets overlooked. An important spiritual insight gets overlooked as well.

Advent is the season of hope. In American society Advent is overrun by commerce. What the liturgical calendar intends to be, a season of reflection and prayer, becomes a season of frenzied activity. Hope gets lost somewhere between "Housewares" and the "Toy Department."

Everywhere people complain about how they get caught up in the insanity, but so few seem able to step out of it. Christmas, a season of joy, when it finally comes, is in reality a season of exhaustion, depression, and disappointment.

Unfortunately there is no genuine Christmas without a genuine Advent. And there is no genuine joy, without nurturing a sense of hope. The greater tragedy is that the Church's message of hope gets lost in the premature singing of Christmas hymns.

What is hope?

Hope is a faithful response to impossible circumstances. A sated, indulged, and pampered people have little room for hope in their lives. Genuine hope is born of tragedy and grief. It expresses confidence in God's promise of blessing in the absence of any visible sign of God's faithfulness.

The supreme example of hope in the New Testament comes not in the Nativity story, but in the Good Friday story. Jesus was crucified between two thieves. Three men hang on their crosses, each dying a slow, humiliating, and tortuous death, each one powerless to change his circumstance.

One man, despite the nails in his hands, painfully turns his head to look at another man on a similar cross and through labored breath utters a plea, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." At first one may think these words are sarcastic and sardonic. The first must be mocking the second whose cross bears a sign that reads, "The King of the Jews."

But this is not the case. "The King of the Jews" slowly turns his head and agonizingly replies, "This day you will be with me in paradise." Jesus on the cross responds to the thief on the cross. A word of hope receives a word of promise in reply.

The agony of our contemporary generation is not as obvious as the agony of the three men on their crosses, but it is every bit as real. Our generation confronts the agony of purposelessness. We confront a life that holds no meaning. We believe one person is as insignificant as the next. And each of us feel, "I am the most insignificant of all." Our agony is boredom in the midst of abundance.

The philosophers have a word to describe this condition of the modern age, "Nihilism." Nihilism means "nothing." Contemporary life is one big nothing. Why not mask our despair in the face of an empty universe with mindless shopping, party-going, and Christmas movie-watching?

Advent whispers quietly in the rush of December a word of hope. Jesus is coming. The God who created us, has not abandoned us. A baby will be born who was promised before the foundations of the world and who points the way forward to a life of genuine meaning, significance, and purpose. Follow him.

In the Advent season we hear God looking for covenant partners for the re-creation of the world. This word fills the nothingness of an overindulged generation with a creative word of life. Hope in Advent will give birth to Mission on the day of Jesus' birth, if we will only follow him.

Monthly Focus Archive

2006:

Easter Focus: New Covenant
Lenten Focus: A Covenantal Response to Poverty
February Focus: Moving Forward

2005:

December Focus: Longing
November Focus: The Gift of Years
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Foundations
Summer Focus: The Book of Acts
Easter Focus: Tapestry
Lenten Focus: Rule of Life
January Focus: The Next Wave

2004:

December Focus: Surprising Grace
November Focus: Free Indeed
October Focus: Money Madness
September Focus: The Outrageous Promise
Summer Focus: Into the Fullness
June Focus: Thick Faith
Easter Focus: All Things New
Lent Focus: A Hungry World
February Focus: Commitment
January Focus: Unity

2003:

December Focus: Hope
November Focus: Worship
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Seasons of Faith
Summer Focus: The Gospel of John
May Focus: Faith
April Focus: Resurrection
March Focus: Truth
February Focus: Covenant Groups
January Focus: Sabbath

2002:

December Focus: Shut Up and Sing
November Focus: Spiritual Gifts
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Intentional Faith