IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE IT NOW, BUT THEN, IT NEVER DOES. Advent begins with a tired incredulous laugh, like Zechariah’s must have been when the angel foretold the birth of John the Baptist. Will a new prophet come forth out of these old bones? The bones are old again today, and for America in December of 2012, the year ends in ashes. Christmas will not heal the political and cultural divides, will not ease the suffering of Sandy victims on the east coast, nor solve the debt crisis, nor bring peace to the middle east. Nor will it make America love her Christian heritage more.
 
The Light, however, descends to shine forth in darkness. It is not the cold light of our flatscreens, smartphones and laptops, which for the most part knit a shroud of misery and cynicism over our heads. The Light is not liquid crystal sparking to electronic signals, but is flame; whether a candle, a fireplace or a star, it burns. It comes into the world because the world is dark, and, though the world remains a dark place even by this light, the darkness of the world does not overcome it.
 
The Light comes first to those unlikely ones who look for it the most in the dark – a star in the night sky to the traveling wise men, a heavenly choir in the night to the shepherds. Advent reminds us that Light is always, always on its way, and that darkness only presages it. It may be that the saturation of the airwaves by personal technology has annihilated the airspace that in the past accommodated great surges in the gospel on the earth. It may be that the soil of our public culture becomes ever more acidic to the gospel. Darkness is real, and expensive to faith; but it is the setting for Light to appear.
 
So, it is dark. And Something is coming – and it will be surpassingly wonderful. Keep your eyes open for it; be one of the ones looking for it. It is always arriving, has never stopped arriving, is on its way again to us who look for it, and it loves impossibility. Remember how it started, in the darkest time of a weary world.

We have turned to each other through the unlikely medium of the Internet out of hunger for Light, plain and simple. We are so thankful for you! You are our home, our encouragement and goad, the ground of our ministry to hundreds of people you can’t possibly know. You have made your home with us and invested faithfully. As we mark the end of the year in these Advent messages, we ask you to renew your end of year giving, to us and to yourselves, for the Catch to take a strong stand in 2013. The world needs us now, more than ever.