Advent/Darkness

Foremost on my mind this week is the difficulty in reconciling the hope of this season with the incredible brokenness of this world. Perhaps it's always been this way, but for whatever reason, the past few weeks and months have felt like one horrible thing after another, just piling on and on and on. It could be my propensity for reading the news nowadays, a stark contrast to my college days of basically existing in a world independent of politics and international news. Anyway, some days I've felt like it's too much. Ferguson/police brutality, war and its victims worldwide, the continual poisoning of the Earth, the pervasiveness of rape and sexual assault (and the denial of such) connected to Bill Cosby, UVA, and also everywhere in the world....and more. Much more.

I care about it all, and I want to honor these situations by giving them my full attention and access to my emotions. I won't give in to that instinct to look away. And yet, it's too much for me to carry.

I began to realize that this is why we need Advent. Not because it's easy to feel happy and hopeful, but because the darkness of the world is crying out for light.

I think Christena Cleveland says it best in her blog post entitled "Advent/Darkness":

We’ve been tricked by chocolate-filled Advent calendars and blissful Christmas pageants that gloss over the very real evil that makes the Messiah’s coming so very necessary, so very loving, and so very heroic.

Advent isn’t a holiday party. It doesn’t pressure us to conjure up a hopeful face, ring bells, and dismiss the foulest realities we face. Advent isn’t about our best world, it’s about our worst world. I think we eat the chocolate and put on the pageants because we don’t want to face the worst. [...] 

Advent is an invitation to plunge into the deep, dark waters of our worst world, knowing that when we re-surface for air we will encounter the hopeful, hovering Spirit of God. For when we dive into the depths of our worst world, we reach a critical point at which our chocolate and pageants no longer satiate our longing for hope – and we are liberated by this realization. Indeed, the light of true hope is found in the midst of darkness. [...]

Advent/Darkness

Advent/Ferguson

Advent/Hunger 

Advent/Apathy 

Advent/Fatherlessness 

Advent/Oppression of Indigenous Peoples 

Advent/ISIS 

Advent/Political polarization 

Advent/Human trafficking 

Advent/Mental illness stigma 

Advent/Ebola treatment inequality 

Advent/Immigration injustice 

Advent/Rioting 

Advent/Privilege 

Advent/School-to-Prison Pipeline 

Advent/West Bank 

Advent/Spiritual Abuse 

Advent/Economic inequality 

Advent/Myanmar 

Advent/Segregated churches 

Advent/Poverty 

Advent/Police brutality 

Advent/Global oppression of women and girls 

Advent/Marginalization 

Advent/Darkness

Come, Lord Jesus. Come.

http://www.christenacleveland.com/2014/11/adventdarkness/