I love me some Christmas music, especially songs with a message. Take, for instance, the Stevie Wonder classic “Someday at Christmas.”
The underlying theme of the song is “hope,” hope that in spite of the madness all around us, a better day will come. Yet, I find the song hauntingly melancholy. Maybe it’s because Stevie’s lyrics of social commentary, calling out all the ills and evils of the world, are so on point that at times, when I listen to the song’s refrain (“Someday at Christmas…”), it almost feels like Mr. Wonder – and all of us who he’s singing about – are attempting to sing up or listen up on some hope.
Doubt & Despair are Rampant
In other words, there’s this feeling of doubt and despair that wonders (pun intended) if we as a society will ever get our “stuff” together in time to bring about the kind of “not yet” world Stevie Wonder is singing about.
One was we can give this song and our world an injection of hope realized is via acts of faith – taking leaps outside our comfort zone to do good in the spaces we find ourselves, with the tools and skills we’ve been blessed with and for the people with whom the Creator has allowed us to congregate.
Hope is Spiritual Plutonium
When I’m in preaching or teaching mode, I often tell my congregation or class that “hope” is spiritual plutonium. Plutonium, FYI, is one of the most powerful elements in the universe – just like hope. Without hope, a person could live to be 200 years old, but they will have lived all those years as the walking dead. However, with hope, all things are possible. And acts of faith (not just pronouncements of faith, but actual acts) help to generate hope where hope may have once seemed lost forever.
Acts of Faith Generate Hope
For our communities, businesses can engage in acts of faith by going the extra mile for and with their customers, especially those regulars. Showing them some tangible token of appreciation, even though it may not add to the profit margin, could usher in untold riches in future days.
Educational institutions can engage in acts of faith by finding creative ways to teach our children their story even as the powers and principalities led by modern-day Herods attempt to ban and outlaw our story every chance they get. That may mean directing students to community centers or plays or library-sponsored events that celebrate our Pan-African history, current greatness and future strivings. That may mean nudging students and parents towards books, movies and events that lift up our culture and our heroes.
Faith institutions can engage in acts of faith by simply getting involved in actions outside your four walls; recognizing that your biggest congregation is the one that’s never seen the inside of your mosque, temple or sanctuary.
By each of us actively engaging in acts of faith, we will strengthen not only our own hope, but the hope that exists within all those we’ve touched with our deeds. And when we do that, that “Someday at Christmas” won’t be far-fetched or far off at all.
