“..the world in silent stillness lay…”

A dark world, a hopeless world, a world that had just about given up. Just about given up on a Savior, on a change, on something to believe in. A world that wondered what happened to God, and why He seemed to have left them. A world trampled by an occupying army, heavy with injustice, thick with unmet longings, and unrealized dreams.

A world where hope seemed to have failed. This was the dark still world where Christ was born. A world where justice seemed to lose, and hearts were always broken. A world not so different from ours.

But there were those who dared to hope, to dream, to take God at His Word. The Prophets, the widows, the beaten down, and the lovers of His Word. There were those who believed God would make good on His promise to restore all things, to make all things new, to save the world.

So Hope was born, not because this dark world deserved it but because a loving God decreed it. Hope was born that Christmas night into the darkened streets, into the blackest corners, into the most wounded hearts.

Unrelenting Hope…Hope for all…the sick, the poor, the captive, the rich, the lost, the prideful, and the afraid. Hope that heals, Hope that changes, Hope that restores, and Hope that gives life.

As I walk these dark streets, and hear the dark stories I find there, I dare to hope. I raise my eyes to heaven with the Prophets, and the Sufferers,the Lovers of God, and the Seekers of Justice. Hope will be found, Hope never fails.

This Christmas, I am daring to Hope again. I am daring to Hope that darkness will not win, and that addictions will not prevail. I am daring to Hope that justice will be proclaimed, and God will restore, and He will light these dark streets.

Dare to hope with me.