Rosalind Rutherford

Advent is set (in the northern hemisphere) in the season of the year when days get shorter and hours of darkness get longer. Hope is a reminder and a promise that even if we do not feel very hopeful, even if our life feels as dark as the long nights, even if we cannot see or imagine a way forward, we are not alone. God is with us, even if we can’t see or feel God. It is often at these times of greatest need, when we cannot see a way ahead, that we discover that God is with us, often unnoticed by us until we look back on that time. To live in the faith that even in the darkest times, God is there, closer even than our breath, is the hope at the heart of Christian faith and the hope we return to each Advent.