by Rev. Paul M. Clark, President of Lutherans For Life of Michigan
It’s Monday … A dreary Monday in Michigan …
Nothing too unusual in that. Yet, as Annie sang, the sun will come out tomorrow. Well, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner or later it will shine.
Advent reminds us that the night of this world will soon be ending. We need to hear that. It is easy to become depressed. It is easy to feel a bit lost, or just plain tired. We ALL get that way at times.
Yet, the fact remains: The dawn of the Day of the Lord fast approaches. That Day will drive out all darkness, squelch the flames of pain and sorrow, dry up all tears, and bring to an end all suffering.
That Day will bring radiant joy and everlasting peace.
For there is one and only one true ray of sunshine, and that is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, here for you, dying for you, rising for you, ruling all things for you.
In Him, we have hope, we have a future, we have life.
In the words of an anonymous early English poem, “The Dream of the Rood”:
May the Lord be a friend to me,
He who suffered once for the sins of men
Here on earth on the gallows tree.
He has redeemed us;
He has given life to us,
And a home in heaven.
Indeed. By faith in Jesus, we have more than just a friend. We have a Savior. And we have a home—a permanent one—in the new heavens and new earth which God promises us.
So, let the gloomy darkness of winter come. That darkness cannot overcome the light. The Light of the world has come. That Light shines brightly in God’s Word. It radiates from the waters of our Baptism, where Christ Himself is present to clothe us with His righteousness. It illuminates the Lord’s Supper so that we see it for what it truly is—the very body and blood of our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, given for us.
This Light shines, now in Advent, and even in the darkest hours of winter, and the prince of darkness himself cannot extinguish it.
Lift up your heads, O people of God! Emmanuel has come. And He—Jesus—will never leave us or forsake us.
Never.