Risking some redundancy, I wanted to share a little from the introduction to the 25 Days of Love and Justice, compiled by two Union parents, Sayuko Setvik and Nichelle Keatley.
If you signed up for the daily email they deliver throughout Advent, you may have read this already. (And if you haven't signed uo, you can always do so at truthandjustice.union@gmail.com.)
What struck me in their intro email was the tension between heartache and joy. Between hope and hopelessness. Between the now and the not yet. This time of year is a season of longing and waiting and parenting is very much the same experience year round. We long to see our kids grow into who God created them to be, while holding the tension of parenting in the moment. Not only that, we are parenting in a world that is filled with injustice, hurt, fear....and hope. Parenting is a complicated vocation, for many reasons.
Sayuko and Nichelle wrote:
"In the midst of the horrific suffering in Palestine & Israel, the ongoing war between Ukraine & Russia, violence and starvation in many African countries, mass shooting every day in the U.S., illness, heartbreak, and difficulty in our personal lives, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless. This Advent, we are intentionally journeying with both heartache and joy.
How do we hold God's justice and God's love simultevusaly?
How can we name and experience the injustices in the Bible and in the wold, while holding onto God's goodness at the same time?
We invite you to ponder these questions this season, just as Mary and Joseph embraced the joy of Jesus, while at the same time witnessing terrible suffering around them. We were not created to live in isolation, but rather in community. “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15) For us, the answer is together. Our hearts are big enough to hold multiple things together at the same time. We mourn, grieve, and cry with those who are suffering. AND we laugh and sing with those who are happy. We stop to ask about someone’s pain, and hopefully, collectively, we can lighten the burden a tiny bit."
As we walk through Advent these next week, we do it together as we work for the light of justice to shine bright, while living in the difficult tension of a world that needs our Lord. As you are present at Union in the next few Advent Sundays, maybe try asking someone about their experience with this tension of heartache and joy, and as Sayuko and Nichelle say, you may find that this little act will lighten their burden and create an inbreaking of hope.
Isaiah 9:2
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned."