My hope is built on nothing less
On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Waiting for Jesus Christ to come: That is what Advent means. Getting rest and renewal in preparation. Advent this year means getting ready for Christ to come and help us through this next year, when we will face unprecedented political dangers and the most critical election since the Civil War.
Each of us has to decide what getting ready means for us. For me it means some retreat time. I just returned from a time away with someone who is a retreat master for me. It was by the water, which is what makes me more able to breathe, walk, pray, reflect and prepare.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” (Psalm 23) Another old friend took me on a sail to the middle of San Francisco Bay where I could just watch the City and the Golden Gate Bridge, which is perhaps my favorite place in the world to be.
The time by the water took me deeper and gave me rest. I became even more rooted in the conviction that this next year will take all that our faith has to offer, against the worst demons in our country’s past and present, and for courageously standing up and speaking out for the gospel of Jesus Christ and our nation’s better angels.
I learned that I needed more contemplative days in Advent 2023 to prepare me for action in 2024. And I will take more of those days over the holiday season with my wife Joy, our sons Luke and Jack, and my new daughter-in-law Anna-Sophia, before going back to teach the next semester at Georgetown. It’s family, friends, and water for me.
On the way home, I spoke to another dear old friend, Tony Campolo, the magnificent preacher of the true gospel over the last half century. A stroke has left Tony no longer mobile enough to do revivals, but he follows the news as religiously as he always has.
We discussed how we need a revival of true faith in Jesus again – right now – in the face of the political capitulation and religious idolatry of so many white Christians, especially in the white evangelical tradition that both Tony and I are from.
Tony told me about a report he saw of how a Nativity scene in a city experienced a theft when somebody stole the baby Jesus, and they were unable to find him.
“That’s how I feel now,” Tony said, “They have taken my Lord somewhere else, and I don’t know where to find him.”
Tony also recalled ancient hymns that we used to sing in our home churches, like “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less.” Over the phone, we went through the verses and chorus together, which we both knew from memory:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’s name.
Then the chorus:
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
Tony and I agreed that getting white evangelicals to sing those old hymns again might help us now.
That is such a good song to sing at Advent right now, ”On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Repeat, “All other ground is sinking sand.” White evangelical support for a racialized autocracy is clearly sinking sand for both faith and democracy. And coming back to Jesus is the only way forward for the churches in America.
So stop, rest, renew, pray, go deeper; and get ready in Advent 2023 for the fateful year of 2024.
Blessed Christmas to all of you,
Jim
I love the old hymns, this is one of my favorites. I have to say, I saw you on TV a few years ago and purchased one of your books. Not long after, I sought out a different church and am now a deacon and teach Bible study. Thank you so very much!
Thank you.