The Christian story tells of the birth of a baby in Bethlehem who is the future hope of the world.  Two thousand years ago, on the old Roman calendar, December 25 was the date of the winter solstice, and so Christmas—like the solstice—is about the birth of hope in the midst of the deepest darkness. 

The Christian declaration is that Jesus is to usher in the reign of God on earth when peace shall reign and when, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, ⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

But the birth of Jesus is the birth of hope only, not of that idyllic era itself.  It would be decades before Jesus began his ministry and two thousand years later we still do not live in the world that the ancient people of Israel and the early followers of Jesus hoped for.  As is true for all religious movements that await the promise of a paradise to come, the Christian tradition has found that the entering in of that glorious era is long delayed. 

In that time yet to come, all people will live in peace, will know plenty, and each person will sit under their own vine and fig tree in a land flowing with milk and honey that is shared by all.  It will be an era when poverty no longer exists, when bigotry and discrimination are ended and when violence of all kinds is rejected.

The delay of our entry into that era may be due to the fact that we refuse to bring it into being because we reject the steps necessary to do so.

In the imagery of the story, the birth of Jesus is the birth of hope into the world, hope which has yet to be fulfilled, but hope which has become incarnate and therefore has opened possibility. 

But what of the time before that birth; how does one hold onto hope before hope is born?

If we or a loved one are diagnosed with a serious illness, we may be offered hope by doctors who say that there is a treatment or that there are possible treatments.  But what of the period of time between diagnosis and prescription when there is not yet hope?

Religious belief includes faith which allows us to have hope in things unseen. 

In the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, the Christian convert Paul says 11: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…³By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Faith, whatever our faith may be, allows us to have hope even before hope is born; before hope is clearly present.  That faith may inspire hope in the immediate moment.  It can, for example, inspire hope in recovery from illness.  But it can also inspire hope even when recovery is not to be.  Faith can give us strength to have hope in an afterlife or can give us strength to face the end of life. 

Whether our future is one of paradise on earth, paradise in a world to come, rebirth to a new life or the cessation of existence in our current form, faith gives us hope in the period of time before hope is born and also in the period of time when hope is no more.

Whatever our faith may be, let us celebrate the story of the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem, let us celebrate the birth of hope into the world, and let us celebrate whatever our own faith may be.