Life seems messiest at the holidays, when everything is supposed to glitter and gleam. In addition to the family and economic pressure from the holidays themselves, it is the end of the semester for students and teachers; deadlines for college, grad schools and jobs are looming; and the hours of light in a day are the shortest. Instead of bright lights, darkness descends.
Today is the first day of Advent, the time in the church’s calendar when we wait for the coming of Christ. Unlike the way Western culture gets ready for Christmas, with parties, tinsel, and cheesy Christmas songs, the church embraces the darkness of the season. We acknowledge that human life is a mess. And we remember that it is into this mess that God incarnated himself.
My first December in China, I learned a new Christmas carol, which has become one of my favorites: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” That year, in addition to being far away from home at Christmas, my team was struggling. We were struggling with our relationships with each other, and we were struggling with the knowledge that only two of us would stay at our school the next semester (the other two would hopefully be moved to another school in China. But we didn’t know who was staying and who was moving or where we would go). I was also praying about a nomination to the in-country leadership team for the next year. I had many questions and lots of stress. The world seemed dark. My life was a mess.
God came to me through this carol. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the great American poet, wrote it in a time when he was also in great darkness. The country was a mess as it fought the Civil War. Longfellow’s wife had died a few years earlier in a tragic fire and the previous year his son was seriously wounded in a battle. His life didn’t glitter and gleam the Christmas he wrote these words:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
of Peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair, I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then plead the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With Peace on earth, good will to men.”
During Advent, we have the chance to acknowledge that we are in despair, that it seems like our world lacks peace and evil is winning. We don’t try to sweep it under the rug or wrap it up with a beautiful bow. Instead, in the Biblical tradition of lament, we look it square in the face. We name the mess. But in Advent we also bring the mess to Jesus, who took on our flesh and dwelled among us. Because Jesus came and lived among us and eventually died and rose again, we know that God is not dead. Jesus will come again and the wrong will fail permanently. Right will prevail, and all things will be made new.
But while we wait for that day, we have Advent to help us face our darkness with hope. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus!
