Our Advent Hope

Christian Calendar or Not

The Importance of our Advent Hope

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            As much as is possible, whenever I write on a Christian theme, I seek to encourage people in every life situation I can imagine. The hope of the Gospel is meant to be expressed to all men and women in every conceivable place in life. I seek to encourage people who consider themselves conservatives and progressive; or in this blog whether one follows a Christian calendar or not.

            The themes that are highlighted in the seasons of a Christian calendar are meant to enrich the lives of Christians whether or not they make use of the Christian calendar; and whether or not the highlighted themes are being particularly recognized in the present season of the calendar. We especially remember Christ’s death on Good Friday, his burial the following day, and his resurrection of Easter Sunday but on the other days of the year we would have no Gospel if those themes were only remembered on those days. We remember the incarnation on Christmas Day, but we would have no Gospel to proclaim if we did not speak of and remember the incarnation throughout the year. Advent is a season in which we highlight our hope in Christ. We remember that mankind waited in darkness for a savior until he came being born to Mary. We also look for the day when his redemption will be brought to fullness and completion and we hope for this fulfillment in our lives now. Such a hope is not able to be contained only in the season of Advent but is ours to be cultivated throughout the year. It is every Christian’s to be explored whether one keeps to a calendar or not.

            Waiting and hoping for the day of Christ is a continual need in our Christian lives. We might highlight it in our worship services during an Advent season, but it is that hope in which we believe and to which we labor until faith shall be sight, hope shall be reality and love shall be enduring throughout eternity. So if this season of Advent reminds me of the greatness of our Christian hope it is something which God would have me share with my Christian friends who do not keep a calendar and with humanity not yet sharing in the hope of Christ. As Christians we especially can remember in an Advent season highlighting the place of hope that one of our great Christian responsibilities is to be ready to share with those who ask the reason for our hope. We believe that Christ has come to save his people from our sins. We believe that though there remains much darkness that a great light has come into the world and that the day shall come when the world shall be brightened with his light day and night forevermore, and that every tear shall be removed from our eyes and every sin removed from this earth and every injustice swallowed up in God’s perfect redemption and justice. Neither of which can we attempt to describe or define without polluting His perfect work.

            As 2014 comes to a close there is so much darkness to consider. If you are like me you have had friends or family members die to cancer or heart attacks or any sort of death this year. We have watched the news reports of unarmed men dying in situations with police. Sometimes there are questions regarding these circumstances but many are waiting for a more perfect system of justice to make clear the truth of what took place. This year I have read all too many stories of child abuse, of trafficking of young people in the illegal drug, sex, and pornography trade. This month has seen if anything a heightened sense of the darkness remaining in our world. In Sydney Australia, a kidnapper in the name of Islam took hostages leading to a loss of innocent life. In the city of Peshawar in Pakistan Muslim terrorists attacked and killed more than a hundred school children.

            I write this with a heavy heart because on my Twitter feed I follow a number of Muslims who want as much as I want to help this world be a better place. One tweeted tonight that she was an optimist hoping for the future as she expressed her standing with those attacked in Peshawar. It would be easy to lose hope with such events, or to be hardened. But I wait for the day of Christ. St. John wrote that when we see him we shall be like him and everyone who has this hope fixed on him shall purify himself as he is pure. In essence St. John looks upon this waiting in hope as an active waiting. We see that we shall be characterized by the goodness, the love, and the perfection of Christ in that day and seek to become as much like him as we can until that day. Or as St. Paul described the Christian life it is lived in faith, hope and love. We believe what cannot yet be seen until faith becomes sight. We hope for that which is not yet until hope is turned into reality. We love until the day when the world is made a place where love is the essence of all reality.

            This hope is something greater than our fears. I heard of the news of the kidnapping in Sydney Australia. Then a news story went viral over the social media. On a bus or train a Muslim woman hearing the news and fearing reprisals began to remove her scarf for fear of being harmed by a people angry with Islam. Someone sitting next to her said “Don’t take it off, I will ride with you.” Whatever one believes if a Christian responds with such kindness out of their hope for what the day of Christ will bring then it will convey something that no pamphlet or theological argument can convey. I read the words of grateful words of Muslims hearing of how throughout Australia non-Muslims encouraged by the social media were reaching out with promises of “I will ride with you.” I can say with joy that Muslims from Palestine, Britain, the USA, and across the world took notice of such kindness. They were moved by that act of kindness in the depths of their humanity. I can only believe that an act of someone responding in hope rather than fear began to chip away at centuries of built up mistrust and enmity.

            So to every Christian who has lost their sense of hope I desire to encourage you to hope as if you believed that Christ rose from the dead and is bringing all things to move forward to a day when his redemption turns faith into sight, hope into reality, and love into the very essence of the new heavens and earth. As December  17 is the birth date of Ludwig Von Beethoven and as this season of Advent is a season of hope this is a time when we ought with all our souls be expressing an ode to our unspeakable joy as we live in hope of the day to come.