Christmas season sends a message of hope

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Editorials

Peace on earth. Good will to all.

That is the promise proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds in the fields with their flocks in Luke 2:14 announcing the birth of the savior.

Judged by the history of the past 2,022 years since that message was first proclaimed, humanity has done a pretty lousy job living up to its side of the bargain. This is especially true in recent years, with the ongoing war in Ukraine and conflicts around the globe. The promise of peace on earth seems to further recede from becoming reality.

It is easy to become disillusioned by the message of the Christmas story. It is easy to be worn down by the injustices, both grievous and petty, that people inflict on one another on a daily basis.

It is easy to get worn down in the spirit of the season. To see those who are grieving, injured and battling each day to see the next dawn, and to question if the story and promise of Christmas is just a tale to tell children and a false hope.

It is easy to lose faith when you see people suffering, when you see the strong take advantage of the weak both physically and economically, or when a child cries out in fear and hunger in the darkness.

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2) The Bible message promises hope. The hope that a child born humbly among the animals in a manger would right the wrongs and bring justice to the world.

This week as we gather at church services and join with family and friends to celebrate Christmas, it is important to keep that hope alive in each of our hearts and our actions. Each one of us must jealously protect the flickering candle of hope in our hearts so that when the time is ripe its light will catch on the tinder and will spread throughout the world.

The past few years have been dark ones in America and throughout the world.

This time of year many of us wake up to begin our daily routines long before the sun rises.

If you think about the sunrise, many people picture only that bright burning light as the sun clears the horizon, as if some cosmic-scaled light switch has been flipped. It is easy to forget the slow and steady progression of the pitch black of night steadily giving way to the light of day. As the light slowly increases it is hard to pinpoint the exact moment where things become more light than dark. This is just the same as the long climb from the gloom of recent years back into the sunlight of normalcy.

The world remains far from perfect, but in seeing the light that came into the world at Christmas, each of us has the ability to work toward that light and to guide others who follow the path each of us chooses.

The Christmas story is a story of hope. It is the story of a guiding light in the darkness. In the darkness we must not lose faith that the dawn is coming.