Advent reminds us that preparing the way for Christ also means reshaping the landscape of our community with hope, justice and love.
As we approach this Advent season, I find myself in constant theological reflection about topography — the lay of the land — and how it mirrors the contours of our spiritual lives. Living here in the Lehigh Valley, surrounded by rolling hills and open plains, I am struck by how this landscape becomes a metaphor for the movement from darkness to light.
Advent is a journey through sacred terrain — hope, peace, joy, and love.
In the first week, we stand in the audacity of hope, unleashing it wherever and however we can. Like travelers navigating the flow of the mountains and the Lehigh River pressing toward their destination, we, too, press toward the mark. I’m reminded of the song we sing each year during Advent — Aretha Franklin’s 1987 classic “Walk in the Light.”
Walk in the light, beautiful light,Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright.Shine all around us by day and by night,Oh, Jesus is the light of the world.
The second week leads us into the valley of peace. Yet many have found themselves in the valley of dry bones, as echoed in Ezekiel’s vision. This week invites us to walk in peace, where paths are made straight and hearts reconciled, echoing Luke’s promise that God will “guide our feet into the way of peace.”
By the third week, joy lifts us to the mountaintop, where our praise breaks forth: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isaiah 52:7). Finally, love draws us home — to the dwelling place where “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Home — where love abides, where food becomes a love language and where memories of old turn into testimonies of God’s goodness. This time also reminds us not only to love God but to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Each week, the Church crosses this holy landscape toward Bethlehem, where heaven and earth meet. Yet this season’s beauty also calls us to face the valleys around us. Many of our neighbors are walking through terrain marked by loss, unemployment, food insecurity and homelessness. In 2023 alone, an estimated 14,441 children in Lehigh County were living in poverty. Advent cannot be only about candles and carols — it must be about compassion in motion.
Just as land must be leveled for a traveler, our hearts must be prepared for Christ’s arrival: mountains of pride lowered, valleys of despair lifted, crooked paths straightened, rough places made smooth. The same God who shaped the peaks and valleys of this region is reshaping the landscape of our souls.
As the great theologian Howard Thurman once wrote, “The light that shines is not the light of a distant star but the light that is in you.” Advent reminds us that this divine light calls us out of complacency and into community — out of fear and into faith.
So, this Advent, let us do more than wait — let us work while we wait. Let us feed a family, mentor a child, comfort the grieving, and bring light to the places where darkness lingers. When we do, the topography of our valley — and of our hearts — will glow with the radiant hope of Christ. For Christ’s work always included children, the marginalized, and those left behind. Let us speak up, stand firm, and disrupt systems of injustice — just as Jesus did.
Let this season be more than what happens inside our church buildings — let it shine throughout the Lehigh Valley.
Delia Mitchell is a minister at Grace Deliverance Baptist Church in Bethlehem and project director for the James Lawson Freedom School.
