First Week of Advent: Hope

Enter Advent. The countdown to the incarnation of Christ--a season of rest, fulfillment of promises, and great expectation as we celebrate the birth of our King. To celebrate and to keep my focus, I'm going to write a poem each week for each of the themes of advent for the week. This week is Hope. 

My soul is heavy, weighed down by a sadness that seeps through to my bones.

There is a darkness in this world and it is thick as death,

I feel it like a poison that I cannot be rid of, a shroud of pain over we images of God.

There are chains and there are prison cells and there are voices in my head,

And without Him, I am lost.

So, O Israel, I understand your mourning.

How the silence of God must have ached as you labored under the rule of sin,

As you bloodied your hands with sacrifices that were never, never enough

To bear you up to God as perfect and blameless.

You were lost. You prayed for a sword to tear the darkness in two,

When what you really needed torn was the veil that separated you from God.

Did you forget that it is He who turns your darkness into light?

But I understand that, too. For I pray for an answer when the God of the Universe is right here,

As if He weren’t enough of an answer for me.

But I hear the word, whispered through the darkness, from faithful to faithful,

A silver thread stitching starlight into the night:

Hope, hope, hope.

For to you, O Bethlehem, too little to be a clan of Judah, a Ruler will come,

And you, O people walking in darkness, behold, a great light.

There lies your answer, wrapped in linen and lying in a manger,

A Child is born, destined to die, foreknown before the foundation of the world,

Made manifest to rid us of this sin for it cannot overcome Him.

There is a darkness in this world and it is thick as death,

But death has no power, because there is light, and it is driving all the shadows away,

Until the final revelation comes and we are given eyes to see—

Christ above, behind, before, to the left side and the right side, underneath, and within,

Christ alone, for He is marvelous in glory and beautiful in love, and His holiness knows no end.

This is hope. And we bear it in our hearts, just as we bear it in our throats, in our bodies, in our lives.

So, heavy soul aching with the brokenness of the fallen world, look up.

Raise your head, for as these things take place it is not the end,

For your redemption is near, it is coming and it will not delay,

And it is breathtaking as the morning, for the Risen Son will never set,

And in that day hope will no longer be a word, for it will be right in front of us,

The unmistakable Light of the world, speaking out life everlasting.