It seems Oklahoma skipped straight from late summer to early winter. Lots of cold, wet rain, and the Tulsa area only narrowly avoided the icing that did so much damage to our west. It’ll warm up again, but now we’re hearing dark warnings from trustworthy sources: the present pandemic, which had recently seemed to be leveling out around here, is pressing in on everyone, not just here but in many places all at once.
This seems to be the long-anticipated “fall wave,” as everyone starts to move indoors, especially up north, and as “pandemic fatigue” has set in for nearly everyone. It seems inevitable now: we’re headed into a long, dark winter.
This pandemic isn’t historically unprecedented, just unfamiliar. We’ve never fully come to grips with the exponential nature of its spread, nor have we come to a collective agreement as to which sacrifices are worth making. The cherished American values of life, liberty and prosperity seem to be in competition with one another like never before.
Over the next few weeks the secular observances of Christmas will descend upon us like a warm blanket of soft snow. Many will long for the hazy, gauzy embrace of glowing fireplaces, twinkling lights, family feasts and stacks of cards and gifts. Some of that will be available this year, but it surely won’t be the same. All our Christmas celebrations will surely fall short of what we’d really want them to be..
Isolation, loneliness, anxiety and despair are seeping in like a cold draft through poorly sealed doors and windows. We need Advent like never before: the promise of light, heat and love illuminating our whole being, not with a sentimental glow, but a transforming, purifying fire.
This past year has felt in some ways like a never-ending Lent. Breaking into that is a promise of hope, a promise of faith, a promise of love revealed again in the Christ child in a manger. If we go looking for only what we can rationally expect, we will surely be disappointed, this year of all years. But what if we could be open to being surprised by hope?
Pastor Jon
