This past Sunday we lit the first advent candle. Advent being the season of preparation for Christians leading up to Christmas, and the first candle often being named as the candle of hope. Both advent calendars and advent candles have come to us through the Lutheran branch of Christianity, originating in Germany. While this week many of us are contemplating the prospect of hope in our own lives, I am reminded that when life is stable and at it’s best there is rarely something to hope for, it is when there is much uncertainty that hope is of real value. It also occurs to me that it is in uncertainty where our hope lies. For example, when we take the time to reflect on the very origins of the advent calendar and candles that we realize that they come from those followers of the great reformer Martin Luther who was responsible for creating the branch that became the Lutheran Church in Germany, and has since spread around the world. Likewise the practices adopted within the Lutheran Church have now spread through mainstream Christianity (you are hard pressed this time of year to find a Christian church not preparing for the coming of Christ. The hope of Christmas then has come more alive from the margins of Christianity (Lutheranism) and the original mainstream (Catholicism), and Christianity is richer as a result. I hope that this reminds us that it is the small fractured areas of our lives, which can offer us hope in this season. Today, I invite you to light a candle, and to find your hope.
Personally, my hope stems from the prospect of new beginnings, and a fresh tomorrow. To quote Lucy M. Montgomery “Tomorrow has no mistakes in it. Well no mistakes in it yet.” As we commence the season of Advent, which also is the first season of the Christian year, I am reassured that part of preparing for the coming of Christ, or “the new heaven” that we read of in the book of Revelation, is starting anew, and with the hope of something more.