In the Christian faith tradition this week starts the season of Advent, a four-week period of anticipation of the coming of Christ. Each week, Christians “prepare the way” in reflection, with each week represented by a theme.
This week is a time of focusing on hope and faith. I’m of the thought that like the Christmas story, there are signs and wonders all around, and within us, as we consider hope and faith.
When Christmas story itself is just full of signs and wonders. Mary is informed by a radiant being that she had found favor with God and will give birth to a son and he would be known as the Son of the Most High. Quite the sign, and the wonder of it all being she was a virgin. When her betrothed, Joseph learned of this, he did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he planned to divorce her quietly. He was subsequently visited by an angel who informed him the baby that Mary was about to have was of the Holy Spirit. He was commanded to take Mary as his wife, and he did so. According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus was born, a great star appeared in the sky, guiding three wise men to the place where He was born. These wise men having studied prophesy and astronomy had determined that the child was the newborn king of the Jews. They brought Jesus gifts and worshiped him.
Across Christendom, there are any number of ways the Bible is understood, but to my mind, no mater how you slice it – these are signs and indeed wonders, whether understood as fact, as allegory, or metaphysically. Many people around the world take hope and faith from the ancient Christmas story.
But are their signs and wonders in this day and age? Undoubtedly, to my mind. Perhaps not so much in sightings of angels and the appearance of brilliant new stars in the sky. We may need to look around us a little more carefully to notice them, and perhaps even look within.
Civil rights leader and Polish Rabbi Abraham Heschel said, “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
Perhaps this radical amazement is something we can also take away from the Christmas story.
For instance, what about these little supercomputers we carry around with us. What I mean is our cell phones. At one time, within my lifetime, the technology needed to do what a small cell phone does now would have filled a large room, or even several rooms. Amazing, indeed!
I witnessed a great wonder on Sunday while participating in a World AIDS Day service in San Antonio. Those of us that worked in healthcare in the 80’s and early 90’s can no doubt remember the dismay and frustration of caring for those with the disease in that time period. We had no idea we had cause for hope, but we did. On that Sunday, I listened to a young man, all of 26 years old, HIV positive, but with as bright a future as anyone…… due to advances we now have in treatment. And this 26-year-old acknowledged he stood on the backs of giants who had suffered with the disease and worked to study it, cultivating treatments, to make life better for people like him. Such insight in one so young – it absolutely took my breath away! I was filled with wonder, amazement, and most of all, great big hope for the future.
We still live in difficult times. The young man I listened to struggles with acceptance from his family. There are many things troubling this world, and those working in healthcare are facing the toughest time of year, when we will care for the sickest of the sick.
I cannot cover all that is to be known about hope and faith in a five-minute chapel service. I can tell you that it is possible for us to look for the good, finding signs and wonders in everyday life events, and within ourselves.
Be dazzled by the seemingly ordinary! Healthcare providers know all the complicated cell division that must go on to produce a human life – it is a wonder we exist at all. Let us remember that the next time we see a baby.
For I think that understanding is what is implied in the scripture from Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Let us remember this as we go about our day, upholding hope and faith in seemingly hopeless situations.
I thank you for reading and be blessed this day.
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