Hope
Surely every human being comes into this world with just two great questions burning in their heart: Will there be a place for me where I can grow, a place of peace? and Will they love me? Love and Peace. Are there any two things in all of human experience that inspire more longing?
This is why Christmas, the feast of love and peace, is often a difficult time. It causes us to realize how much disharmony and violence there is in our world, and reminds us of disrupted and broken relationships. The poets write songs about these things, and we play and sing them: Simon and Garfunkel’s Silent Night/Seven O’clock News and the great classic I’ll Be Home for Christmas.
This is why the third candle on our wreath is the candle of hope. In the midst of our longing we turn from despair because our longing itself is a sign of hope. We long for love because the God who created us is love, and we dream of peace because we are part of God’s creation, his great “shalom” project, his work of peace.
Take a moment and listen to Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong. It is such a melancholy song; so sad yet lovely, so wistful yet beautiful, so hopeful, so Christmas.
WINTERSONG - Sarah McLachlan
The lake is frozen over
Trees are white with snow
And all around
Reminders of you
Are everywhere I go
It's late and morning's in no hurry
But sleep won't set me free
I lie awake and try to recall
How your body felt beside me
When silence gets too hard to handle
And the night too long
And this is how I see you
In the snow on Christmas morning
Love and happiness surround you
You throw your arms up to the sky
I keep this moment by and by
Oh how I miss you now, my love
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Merry Christmas, my love
A sense of joy fills the air
And I daydream and I stare
Up at the tree and I see
Your star up there
And this is how I see you
In the snow on Christmas morning
Love and happiness surround you
You throw your arms up to the sky
I keep this moment by and by
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