God in the Darkness
God in the Darkness
Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
those who seek God shall never go wanting
Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
God alone fills us.
- Chant of Taizé, text by Teresa of Avila
Neither wars nor pandemics, upheavals nor distress, darkness nor any doubts can ever separate us from God. No matter what your darkness, God is there. Even the knowledge of one’s emptiness, and the heart’s longing cry for the divine, are themselves signs of God’s hidden and quiet activity, like the first buds of green on a tree in spring. These are signs of a joyous springtime in your life to come.
Advent is a time of waiting and expectation – we know this. But it is a waiting that also calls to mind–and sets before God–all the fear, the terror and the sorrow of our lives. Unlike the rose-coloured, nostalgic hype that leads up to our commercialized Christmas, Advent waiting does not gloss over these things but boldly sets them before God, awaiting justice with confidence, and looking for mercy with hope. Advent waiting is not disappointed.
It will all pass, says Jesus, and my words (of love, joy, and peace) alone will remain (Luke 21:33). That is the kingdom that is coming, as surely as spring.
Once, standing in the shadow of Herod's monumental temple, symbol of a ruler's ambition and a people's oppression, Jesus predicted its destruction, and maybe even the entire world's. In that day, he said, "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Does this sound like the world we know in 2021? A lot of people think so.
When Jesus speaks of all these frightening signs, what I think of are those apocalyptic times we have all experienced in our lives. What I’m talking about is the kind of event that occurs in our lives that shakes us up and turns us around. It could be a piece of “bad” news – a child dying young, an illness, a calamity in our lives – or it could even be something “good” – an engagement, a new baby, moving to a new community. Regardless of what it is, such an event can become a little “apocalypse” in our lives, a moment of crisis when the things we took for granted can no longer be taken for granted – our sun, moon and stars, so to speak, are shaken.
In such moments it is easy to feel that darkness has descended and will never lift. But the word of the gospel is that God is constantly working, even in the midst of all our endings, and bringing about new beginnings. That surgery you’ve had; that carefree life of a single you’re about to lose; even that terminal illness you’ve just been diagnosed with… these are but signs of God’s creative activity: bringing about newness of life.
After he was done describing all the terrible signs that will pressage the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus concluded with an admonition: "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap."
It is so easy in times of darkness or crisis to numb out or to be weighed down with dissipation. Life is just too painful to face. On the other hand, the anxiety over an imagined terrible future can also overwhelm. Jesus’s word is to watch out against these things. Even and especially in times of apocalypse we need to be attentive to the present moment, alert to the still, small action of God that is creating a new thing.
Dear friends, I urge you to enter in to an Advent kind of waiting this year. As you prepare for the birth of Christ, avoid the frenetic pace and the nostalgic denial of suffering that seem to go with the world’s Christmas. Instead honour the darkness of the world – the wars , the terror, the environmental destruction. Pay heed to your own suffering, your own doubts, your own ache for wholeness. But in your waiting and in your attention, always hold Jesus’ words in mind: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
There is a kind of attention to suffering that leads to despair, but there is another kind that is like hope. Make it the latter.
God is present in the chaos and building a future of joy.
Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
those who seek God shall never go wanting
Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
God alone fills us.