Looking Up – A Season of Darkness
Dear Hope Church Family,
I had the privilege of being born into a Christian family. Both of my parents are devoted followers of Jesus, and they modeled their faith as I grew up. As a military family, we moved roughly every four or five years due to my father’s assignments. I wasn’t a “preacher’s kid,” but I was definitely a “chairman of the deacons’ kid.” We belonged to several churches over the years, and we were there whenever the doors were open—Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday nights, workdays, and special events. In the Protestant tradition I grew up in, I don’t remember much emphasis on Advent. Perhaps at one of the churches we attended, the Advent candles were lit during the Christmas season, but there was no real focus on Advent itself or its spiritual significance within the church calendar.
When my wife and I joined Hope Church in 2021, I was eager to experience a new Christian tradition and see how another community of believers approached our shared faith. Around that time, a friend asked me if I had ever read anything by Fleming Rutledge. I hadn’t, but I quickly ordered two of her books—one an exhaustive study of the crucifixion, and the other a collection of her sermons on Advent. Soon after, I noticed Rutledge was quoted in the front of Hope’s Sunday morning bulletin, which felt like an endorsement to me.
Through scripture studies and Rutledge’s writings, I began to see Advent in a new light—not as the lead-up to Christmas celebrations with lights, trees, and social events, but as a time for deep reflection on the darkness of the world, shaped by our sin. Rutledge describes Advent as a time to “take a fearless inventory of the darkness” of the world, calling it “the season of the wrath of God.” That’s a far cry from the usual holiday cheer we exchange, isn’t it? But in embracing this darker side of Advent, I began to understand its purpose: to ponder why God sometimes seems hidden, distant, or silent in the face of the world’s suffering. Does He not care? Is He purposefully hiding Himself? What are we to make of a God who seems hidden? As we reflect on these questions, it can feel as though we are sinking deeper into despair.
Yet, just when all seems lost, Christmas arrives—a sudden, blinding flash of hope. The Savior has come. The hidden God is revealed, and we see that He was always there. Only by contemplating the depths of our depravity and the darkness of this world can we fully appreciate the glory that bursts forth in Christ. As Rutledge writes, “Advent shows that the meaning of Christmas is diminished to the vanishing point if we are not willing to take a fearless inventory of the darkness.”
This is what Advent is about. As my favorite Christmas carol says of Bethlehem, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” So, join me in reflecting on the fears and darkness during Advent. Christmas morning will be all the more glorious in comparison.
David Priest