| Hello Darkness - article by Joel Hempel Like many of you, as a kid, I hated going down the barely lit steps to the basement, with its one small light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. Worse, I hated walking across the cold, concrete floor, past the octopus-like coal furnace, to get to the fruit cellar. But I had to do what I was told, so I went. Now, I love the dark. I love getting up at 5:00 a.m., wandering around the dark house, and, weather permitting, walking outside. I suppose that passion was in part triggered by hearing the haunting melody of “The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel’s first big hit, when they performed in the gym at Valparaiso University, February 24, 1967, where Marcia and I had second row seats. Hello darkness, my old friend.1 Paul Simon, the song’s writer, said the song is about loneliness and absence of communication, leaving me to conclude that the opening line is not so much about darkness as “friend”, but darkness as familiar. As many of you know, darkness, and especially its inverse, light, is a theme of the Advent season we are in. Although I love the dark, I do not love the absence of light, like when trying to see in the Merrimac Cavern with the lights turned off. The world can feel that dark and silent. The theme of darkness and light is throughout Scripture. There was darkness before creation, before Christ, and before our salvation. And darkness remains a reality we all have to live through and fight against most days of our lives. Scripture repeatedly identifies sin as darkness.2 But Scripture always emphasizes that the Light of Christ has already overcome the darkness of sin, as well as suffering and death. It is true, we may not always feel Christ’s victory, but feelings don’t defeat darkness. Faith and God’s promises are our weapons of war. In Advent, we prepare for and anticipate the coming of Christ as THE Light born into our world, born to defeat darkness. God’s Word, who became flesh, breaks through the silence with words of assurance. Because with his birth comes the promise of victory on the cross – the darkest moment in history – and the brightest hope for humankind. 1. First line in the Simon and Garfunkel song, “The Sound of Silence. 2. John 3:19-21; Ephesians 5:8-11; 1 John 1:5-7. | 
