By Elijah Zehyoue
My friends, I hate to be a downer, but someone must say it: It’s December, and for where I live that means winter is here.
Prepare yourself for winter. Prepare yourself for the snow, the cold weather, the puffy jackets, the boots, the ugly sweaters, the sniffles, the common cold, the flu, the depression, the longer darker days, the colder lonelier nights, the wintry mixes, the canceled flights, and dreaded trips home; winter is here.
Winter is here in California, as another mass murder has happened on our watch. Fourteen people were killed, and all the life lost is tragic.
Winter is here in Colorado Springs, as supposed preservation of unborn life has spurred violence and hate upon actual life. A demented man has killed innocent people, and the politicians that inspired him are silent.
Winter is here in Paris, as 140 people were killed and over 300 people were wounded at the hands of ISIS terrorists.
Winter is here in Egypt and Russia, as regular people boarded what should have been a routine flight back home that instead exploded over the Sinai Peninsula due to a bomb disguised as a can of soda.
Winter is here in Mali as 120 people were kidnapped in their hotel; winter is here in Nigeria as Boko Haram continues to terrorize the people of the North and no one seems to really care, no one offers #prayers for them. Winter is here in Liberia as a disease that we thought we had beaten back and forever put behind us has resurfaced with 15 more new cases of Ebola just this week, and at least one death.
Winter is here in America, as major presidential candidates call for registries for our Muslim brothers and sisters and endorse the beatings and shootings of young black activists.
Winter is here in the public execution of Laquan McDonald and the subsequent coverup and corruption by the Chicago police, the prosecutor and the mayor. Winter is here as another unarmed black man is killed and black Americans continue to feel as though we are second and third class citizens in our own country, despite our concerted efforts to peaceably assemble for a redress of grievances.
Winter is indeed here, but Christ is also near!
We are reminded of this eternal truth over and over in the Bible, and especially during this season of Advent. The Gospel reading from this week’s lectionary passage was Luke 3:1-6, which tells us that the word of the Lord came to John the Baptist in the wilderness saying:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Simply put, Jesus is coming and he will make our world right. He will take our winter and turn it into summer, he will take our mourning and turn it into dancing, he will take our midnight and turn it into morning, he will take our valleys and raise them, he will take our mountains and flatten them, he will smooth the rough places of our lives, and make straight the crookedness of our world.
As if this wasn’t convincing enough, further in the Gospel of Luke we see Jesus expound on this same theme. In the 21st chapter he tells us that when the Son of Man comes there will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. But he also warns us to not be bothered by those signs. He tells us that some people will be so troubled by the seeming chaos, some people will be so disturbed by the turbulence, some people will be so broken by the shifting of powers, some people will be so astounded by the defeat of evil that they will faint on the spot, they will fall out in fear, they will cave, they will fight with one another, the worst will come out of them, they will want to lock up the immigrants, and mock the protesters, and taunt the mourning, and give into their worst temptations.
But Jesus reminds his disciples that for them and that for you this is not the time to fear, faint, fall out and hide under tables; this is not the time to promote intolerance, build walls, fan the flames of Islamaphobia, cover up thinly veiled racism or ignore the voices of truth that cry out in the wilderness; but when we see these signs of the coming of the Lord we should stand up and raise up our heads for our redemption is near, our God is near, our winter is over, and our Christ is here!
