Advent 2021

“… By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78-79

Twenty-two months into a global pandemic, I imagine we all feel a bit like we are sitting in the shadow of death. Everyone is grieving. Some have lost a loved one. Others have lost some of the joys of life, maybe because of delayed travel plans or restricted time with at-risk loved ones or regrets about how a chaotic school year was handled.

I thought I was doing ok in the pandemic—a homebody whose writing groups and job easily transitioned to remote, with two of the people I love most right here in the house with me (and a third for the first two months!).

But then the shadow of death moved over us—with a diagnosis, treatments, no truly good news. I did not see any tender mercies of God in anything that was happening. Have you been there? What brought you out? Here is what guided my feet into a way of peace: the body of Christ. The community that is Trinity showed up again and again, with a meatloaf we didn’t know we needed, with snacks for the trips to the hospital, with puzzles and books and cards and check-ins and walks and a quilt covered in silly science puns. And that was just the faithful from one little church community—so many others showed love and care and patience, and sent cake too.

Friends, when you hear you are the hands and feet of God, believe it. You can be a light to those who sit in darkness.

Zechariah was an old man when he spoke these words, looking on his newborn son, his only child. Surely he had sat in darkness, had felt the shadow of death, had grieved and worried. But he also knew about messengers from God, and now he could believe they were real.

 

Prayer: Dear God, you remind us again and again that Christ is here already, even as we wait, embodied in those who love us. Remind us that we too can sit with those who wait in the shadow of death and be a light in the darkness, that we too carry your image and can point the way to peace. Amen.