It’s easy to feel a bit unmoored in our herky-jerky world, especially given how suddenly and radically things have been changing lately. And though all of us are seemingly constantly connected, psychologists and sociologists tell us that rates of loneliness, isolation and depression are higher than ever. If that doesn’t describe you, it likely describes someone you know or have interacted with recently.
Research shows that this malaise started before covid and that our social bonds were already fraying due to increased technology use, political differences, financial challenges and less cohesive support systems and communities. Yet by the end of the pandemic, we discovered that we were even more fractured and hurting than when it began.
Many people around the world are feeling untethered and hopeless, like they’re floating across a vast ocean without an anchor, drifting aimlessly and alone.
This makes me think of the giant balloons that traversed the streets of Manhattan last week in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. When we’re watching the parade on television, it kind of looks like the balloons are just making their way down the street on their own. And yet there are crews of more than one hundred people shepherding each balloon along the route, keeping both spectators and giant helium-filled characters safe.
The Bible teaches us that our hope in Jesus is like an anchor for our souls, guiding us and keeping us steady through this topsy turvy thing called life.
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19-20
Just as we have hope in Jesus as an anchor for our souls, we also have a lot of people serving as tethers for us, helping us manage life’s twists and turns along our own proverbial parade route. These may be family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, teachers, spiritual leaders, and just everyday folks with whom we interact in our communities. In the same way that other people help to uplift and guide us, we also play that special role in the lives of those whose paths we cross. Sometimes just being there and offering a word of encouragement or counsel can change the course of a person’s day and even their life. When things get scary, hard or sad or even when they are happy, exciting and busy, knowing that we have support along the way can help balance and guide us as we encounter the stops, starts, and surprises of this world.
I hope that whatever your spiritual traditions are, you have these connections in your life that help you manage the challenges we all too often face. This season is filled with many moments that can take us off-course and lead us into difficult and painful places when we are visited by memories of the past, stressed by the to-do lists of the present and overwhelmed by the worries of the future. In these dizzying days, we all need grounding and hope to help us along the way.
I pray that as we celebrate the birth and hope of Christ this advent season, you would find an anchor to sustain you and that you might have the opportunity to share this hope with others, offering them a steadying reminder of God’s love and presence. I pray also that you have supportive tethers in your life and that you have the honor of serving as the support team to others. And if you’re going through an uncertain time and find yourself in need of a helping hand, I pray for people to come alongside you and that you would hold on to the hope and promise that things will get better.
May God bless us and keep us, and may He anchor our souls as we trust and walk with Him.
“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
In The Narthex 