This Advent, everyone’s waiting. But alongside the Christian tradition of waiting expectantly to celebrate the birth of the Saviour, the world waits to be saved from COVID-19. And, interestingly, both forms of waiting use the same language: of “light breaking through.”
Earlier last month, when the first promising signs from the vaccine trials emerged, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England offered an extended metaphor of light in the distance:
“This to me , is like a train journey where you’re standing on the station-it’s wet, windy, it’s horrible- and two miles down the tracks, two lights appear and it’s the train. And it’s a long way off. We’re at this point at the moment.”
Jonathan Van-Tam’s full use of the metaphor extended the illustration, but his primary message was clear: even if we remain in darker times, we can now see the first signs of hope and light to come.
Similarly in Isaiah 9 v 2, we find the prophecy of the greatest light, which will transform the lives of those walking in the darkness.
This is part of a passage of Bible Study which a friend in N. Ireland passed on to me yesterday. I thought it was too good to not pass on. I really like the picture painted by the Medical Officer, of the train in the distance. How often have you waited on a train and finally you see it approaching slowly. The little burst of adrenaline when you pick up your case and wonder where you might get a seat or who you might be sitting beside. (of course now you hope not to be sitting beside anyone because you need to be socially distanced).
We wait with expectation and hope for the “light at the end of the tunnel.”
