Isaiah 60:1-6

One of the things I wish I had from my childhood is that little white, plastic cross.  It was the kind that glows in the dark and was about four inches tall.  When the lights went out at night in the bedroom I shared with my sister, there it was.  There’s a sort of peace in remembering it…but I wish I could hold it in my hand.

Most of us have experiences of “being in the dark.”  It can be a frightening thing.  The Isaiah text comes to us from a people who knew in the darkness of slavery in Pharaoh’s Egypt.  They knew the darkness of wilderness wandering.  They fell into the darkness of idolatry and turning away from God’s justice.  They felt profoundly the darkness of God’s abandonment of them at the hands of the Babylonians.  How could God let “the exile” happen?  Where was God in this deep darkness?

Their names are Ray and Pat.  They have two living sons and two sons who died.  The one was riding the handlebars of his brother’s bike when a car hit them and he was killed.  The other hung himself in the garage in his senior year of high school.  Ray said to me once, “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of those two boys.”  Asking Pat how they got through all of that, she said, “We wouldn’t have made it without our church.  People just held us up when we thought we couldn’t stand.  And we wouldn’t have, if left to ourselves.”

A faith community said to Ray and Pat, “your light has shined…and still shines.”  Even in the dark, God’s steadfast presence shines.  The faith community also said, “We’ll be that light next to you now.  We’ll stand right here and walk with you as you find your way.”

Where is God in the midst of our deep darkness?  Hovering about us.  Standing next to us and walking with us.  Bring-ing life and healing next to us in ways we could not imagine. 

Advent reminds us of this marvelous light that shines upon this world’s deep darkness.  Advent calls us to look up, to arise, to expect light to break through the darkness.  Advent calls us to watch for signs that may be even as small as a star in the night.  Following such a light can lead us to new life.