First Presbyterian Church , Saginaw, Michigan

“Our Hopes and Fears”

As we approach the Advent season and the hectic preparation for Christmas many of us are already exhausted from a presidential campaign that has seemed to last forever.  December is always a busy month for so many people.  Trying to get ready for the holidays and for all the activities that surround the Christmas season can take a lot out of a person.  That being said, one of the things I have come to look forward to over the past few years is my children, who are now adults, being home for a few days.  I also look forward to the fact that our new grand babies will be coming home with them. When children are little we just assume they will always be around and then they grow up and in our world many of them move away.  We just don’t get to see them as much as we might want to.  I look forward to our being together for the holidays.  It is for me a happy time, especially when our children are home.

Amidst the expectation of Christmastide many of us are filled with a bit more apprehension than usual.  Many of us are filled with hopes and fears for what may be taking place in our country, community, and world. The recent election was about the economy and the fact that the nation and world face a financial crisis unlike anything we have experienced since the days of the Great Depression. In Michigan we particularly feel this as the American auto industry stands at the abyss of oblivion. Its demise has already hurt us and its bankruptcy is almost unthinkable. There is indeed plenty to fear but also much to hope for. I believe that the recent election was as much about hope as it was a realization that President Franklin Roosevelt was right when he said during that Great Depression that: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” The election of African American, Barack Obama to the office of President reveals not only a quantum change in our national politics but also in our national mindset. My guess is that hope is alive to help us deal with our fears.

Phillips Brooks, the writer of the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, penned the line that says: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”.  I find his words ever so meaningful as we approach Christmastide once again.  God once again comes to greet us in the child of Bethlehem.  God comes to give us hope and to calm our fears. It is with hope then that we approach another Christmas.  Phillips Brooks said hopes and fears are met together in Bethlehem. While I hope for a renaissance of the best in America my greatest fear is that we will fail, not just to see the challenges of our times, but fail to respond to them.  There is great danger that we will fail to act because we love the way things are. We do need to change. We need to take seriously our faith and the commandments to love God and to love our neighbor. We need to restore the idea of the common good and to encourage our leaders to work for it.

Christmas has always been a time when we change for a while and pursue peace and     goodwill toward others. The promise of God is ever near. Christmas reminds us of the hope that God has come to dwell with us and has called us each to abundant life.  For behold there is born to us all a Savior in Bethlehem and it is Christ the Lord.  May the blessings of Christ come to our world and to us all this Christmas even amidst our hopes and fears. A blessed Advent and Christmas season to all from the staff at First Presbyterian Church of Saginaw.

Dr. Robert L. Emrich

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Last modified: August 25, 2006