Advent hope

It’s been a difficult several days for me. Last week Luther’s president resigned abruptly, in the wake of having the board lose all confidence in his ability to govern. As hard as that was, I believe it was the right decision on our board’s part. Still, it was only the first of what will be many, many painful days in front of us as we cope with several years worth of multi-million dollar deficits. It’s clear that our faculty will emerge from this process much smaller than it is now. I do not know what that means for my own call to this institution, let alone for our students and staff.

So these days have been difficult. But they pale in the context of two other events. The deaths of the children (and others) in Newtown,CT continue to reverberate through my prayers. And then early Tuesday morning, one of our more beloved students, Tony Fair, finally succumbed to the cancer he's been fighting for years. Tony was an incredibly gifted pastoral leader, as well as being an actor (the film Neptune's Rocking Horse remains a powerful testament to his abilities), a musician, and a wonderful parent to two young sons.

Sometimes the world just seems to hold so much pain! It's all I can do to remember that Christ enters into our pain and draws us through it into never ending love. Advent is a time of longing, of hope in the darkness. This year I really feel Advent in ways I rarely have before.