The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
ISAIAH 9:2

For to us, a child is born, to us, a son is given;
& the government shall be upon his shoulder, & his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government & of peace, there will be no end,
on the throne of David & over his kingdom, to establish it & to uphold it with justice
& with righteousness from this time forth & forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
ISAIAH 9:6-7

When I first moved to Choma in 2013, I distinctly remember 2 conversations. Both were with individuals who had served as ‘missionaries’ in this city for many years. As a total newb here, I was eagerly attentive to what I was getting into, the movement of the Church, & the spiritual landscape I was joining. Rather than encouragement & optimistic expectation of what God was doing, I was met with quite the opposite tone. “Choma is hard ground”, & “oh, Choma is dark” were comments quick on their lips, uttered almost as a warning. Those statements had a way of branding themselves into me, taunting me, attempting to blind my sight and diminish the hope within me.

I just had a hard time reconciling those statements with the Truth that has radically captivated my heart & completely changed my life, only a few months earlier. It wasn’t that these descriptors were used, but rather that they were the only descriptors that were used.

“Isn’t that kind of the point?”

I had just been incubated & launched out of a radical, missional community that chanted “to the ends of the earth for love!” & echoed anthems, “we won’t stop ‘til the whole world knows!”. I was expecting this.

“Perfect,” I thought. “I’m in the right place.”

It’s not that I do not see or can not see the darkness. These ‘missionaries’ were not wrong, in fact, I believe this is why God called me & called Poetice here. There is unmistakable darkness in this land – undoubtedly unique to this city but not foundationally unlike the undeniable darkness that is ever-present around the whole earth.

In Choma, as we stand with, beside, & for our neighbors, our friends, & our strangers, we can feel the weight of this darkness. We can feel the heavy blanket fall upon us far too often, saturated with grief from death that has come too soon. Plainly we see this tremendous suffering that is unjustly provoked by poverty & oppression. We are not invincible to the anguish of loss or the pain of being subjected to menial situations that in another place, could have, should have been avoided. Here, our families are fighting to flourish, struggling to attain the most basic human needs.

Yet, in the midst of this deep darkness, I am continuously motivated by the earth-shattering, reality-reorienting, captivating truth of our faith. And I remember the first time Christmas – when Jesus first came.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
ISAIAH 9:2

Was it not darkness into which He came? Was it not because of this darkness that He came?

It was into this deep darkness that He shone brilliantly radiant. It was into this darkness that He revealed Himself as light, & showed us that in Him there is no darkness. At all.

God is light. & in Him, there is no darkness. At all.
1 JOHN

And just like Jesus came, we also come radiant into the midst of darkness. As image bearers, we are light bearers. We have been filled with light, filled with truth, & filled with the same spirit within us – so that we too can pull back the darkness. In the midst of darkness, we declare hope when the world is weary with hopelessness. We have come to bear witness to the light, the true light, which gives light to everyone.

Just as those words pierced my soul so many years ago, there is a truer word that has penetrated itself even deeper. No matter what I feel or experience, this darkness cannot cause even a flicker to the force of light that has already been established by Jesus in human skin, on a cross, up out of a grave. He resurrected a cold, lifeless body & put breath back into its lungs & life back into its bones – He filled it again with His light & life. The darkness could not overcome Him.

And this is in fact why I have come, why God has called Poetice to come to rise up in Choma. We have come with hope on our lips & peace in our souls. For the last decade, we’ve been proving that Jesus’ brilliance overcomes the darkness in this land. As a ministry, we have been zealously believing that He breaks through all darkness & softens the hardest hearts. We have been inviting our city home, back to a man whose Kingdom is upheld with justice & righteousness, & back to the one who can carry every grief. He alone is the one who can peel back the darkness, & we have been inviting our city to let His light shine upon them, & within them – no matter the depth of the darkness, His light will overcome it.

As you dwell on the wonder of the coming of Jesus this Christmas season, may you also remember the reality of the faith in which you stand. Jesus came, & did not leave us alone. He will come again, but we are not waiting without Him. He has filled us with the radiance of the glory of God – His Light. His Spirit is within us. Let us, His brilliant ones, radiantly represent Him in these lands of deep darkness – ‘…for unto them a child was born, unto them a son was given, & on them has light shone.’

May hope & wonder fill you this holiday season.

Burn bright,

Abigail Van Peursem
POETICE CEO