As I reflect
on the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 30:19-26), I hear the pealing of the bells of
hope in the midst of trying times. The
scripture helps me to remember that despite these dark, gloomy days we’re in,
God still looks after us.
The voice of
the Lord, spoken through the prophet is a voice which offers hope to people in
the times of hopelessness. How does the
voice of hope speak to us today when we are absorbed not only by the exterior
darkness of the lack of sunlight, but also the darkness of the uncertainty of
our tomorrows? What gives us courage to
move forward when the ground under our feet seems to shift every few
weeks? Is there hope when we are tired
of hearing about surges and statistics?
Maybe it isn’t a coincidence that the proclamations of imminent
distribution of a vaccine have begun ringing now that Advent is here. It’s the dangling of a carrot before humanity
to give us some kind of hope to reach out towards something beyond us.
Hope is an
extremely powerful energy in the human spirit.
When forces pull us down hope sits just beyond our reach and asks us to
reach forward, move forward, step forward.
Recall the Gospel story where Jesus is walking on the water toward the
disciples in the boat and Jesus calls to Peter to get out of the boat and walk
to Him on the water. As Peter gets out
of the boat his eyes are fixed on that before him. He’s looking outwards beyond the next few
steps. He doesn’t begin sinking until he
takes his eyes off Jesus and begins looking down (Matthew 14:22-33). Hope is that same force. It’s the looking out beyond ourselves, to
something that’s right, true, and attainable. But we must strive to keep taking another step
and reaching to grasp something just beyond our reach. Isaiah speaks words of hope to keep those in
captivity from sinking into the darkness.
And it’s not Isaiah’s words. He’s
speaking from the compassion of God who sees the abyss of darkness in the
people who generations before were called the chosen ones. The Old Testament
has numerous places where God brings hope to people out of divine compassion.
Too, the New
Testament—specifically the incarnation, the birth of Jesus—is about the
compassion of God coming among us. How
many times have we heard, “A people who walk in darkness have seen a great
light”? The gospel of Matthew (Matthew
9:35-10:1-8) moves this a significant step further. It isn’t about us calling out to God to show
compassion, it’s about Jesus empowering people to be the compassion of His
Father. For those who have no imagination
how to do this, perhaps they can begin taking a lesson from some of the
smallest of children. Have you noticed
children have wisdom beyond the common sense of adults? For example, I’ll never forget the time when
I came home after working 3 weeks in another city, and I was feeling exhausted
and extremely pessimistic.
As soon as I
walked in the door, Marilyn said, "Look, Lily! Oompah's home!" One-year-old Lily couldn't crawl over to me
fast enough, with the biggest grin I've ever seen on her face! She wanted me to pick her up, and although I
didn't want to (I’m kidding), I complied. She started jabbering away in baby talk,
telling me everything she did the weeks I was gone and didn't want to leave any
details out. And she giggled and giggled
and giggled. Though she was a little
less than a year old, she ‘knew’ what her “Oompah” needed; the gloominess in my
heart melted away, replaced by indescribable joy and hope.
In a time where so many people are saying, “All I want for Christmas is for this year to be over with,” the question we should be asking ourselves is, “How am I bringing hope, joy and the compassion of God into all this darkness?” It starts by knowing God’s joy and giving it away one person at a time.
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