Hope always believes in the possible.
-Charles Strobel, Room In The Inn Founder
It is a season for lighting candles. In many church traditions, the four Sundays of Advent are marked with the candles on the Advent wreath. The season begins in darkness and ends in blazing firelight and a shining star casting its sacred beams on a poor family searching for a place to stay for the night.
Room In The Inn is a community of people who try to live out that old saying, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” And there is so much darkness in our world to curse. It is easy to feel like the problems all around could overwhelm us.
Over these next four weeks, you are invited to follow the star with us, seeking the light found in the stories and people of the Room In The Inn community. Along the way, we will encounter the strength and goodness of people who are homeless, the humility and compassion of our staff and volunteers, and the timeless wisdom of voices that have led and inspired this work through the past forty years.
May the stories we share each day be like the growing candles of the Advent wreath, reminding us that the light shines, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Jesus was born into a world much like ours, well acquainted with violence and pain. The prophet Isaiah spoke into this darkness with words about a day to come that will be read in many churches today:
He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord! (Isaiah 2:4-5)
Do you believe it’s possible?
Hope always believes in the possible.
Come, follow the star with us.
Together, let us walk in the light.
