The caption on the picture on the front of our Table of
Grace brochures says “Where Hope is Alive!” It’s a bold statement to make,
suggesting that we are a community of people who have not yet given up hope. We
live in a world of dashed hopes, a world where one who continues to hope in the
face of adversity may be seen as some kind of Pollyanna; or at least completely
out of touch with reality. Most of us have mastered the art of dismissing our
hopes in advance to save ourselves the disappointment later.
The first week of Advent calls us to hope. Not only does it
call us to hope, it calls us to sit with that hope…to hold on to it, until we
return the next week to light the next candle. I wonder if we are willing to be
that vulnerable, to open ourselves up to hope that we hold onto for long enough
to convince ourselves that the thing for which we hope might actually be a
possibility.
I wonder if allowing ourselves to hope for better living
conditions for the homeless people in our community would cause us to seek God’s
guidance in helping to be a part of the solution. I wonder if having the
audacity to hope for racial equality in our world would cause us to spend some
time getting to know the people who don’t look like us, who we claim to want to
liberate. I wonder if hoping that people in a village in Africa might someday
have access to clean drinking water would encourage us to spend less on
frivolous gifts this Christmas, and send the money we save to an organization
that can make that happen. I wonder if allowing ourselves to hope for a
government that represents our collective interests would push us into a level
of civic engagement that begins to reclaim the voice of the people in the
public sphere.
I wonder. And I hope. I hope that deep down, we know that
God is alive in our biggest dreams and our greatest hopes. I hope that we
recognize that God’s Spirit uses the creative space that hope provides to bring
great transformation in our lives. I hope, above all else, that we can remember
how to hope like a child counting down the months to a birthday or the days to
Christmas; and that having remembered, we will start to live in our hope for
days and weeks and months at a time. And perhaps that we will let ourselves
believe the word of the Lord spoken through the prophet Jeremiah “For I know
the plans I have for you," says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not
for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
Our hope is a gift from God. Don’t shove it in the back of
the closet like the ugly sweater your Aunt Sally gave you last Christmas, or
the combination hammer/corkscrew/TV antenna from your mother-in-law. Get it
out, use it, enjoy it, let it transform you. I bet you’ll find that it begins
to transform the people around you as well.
What are you hoping for right now? I challenge you to hold
onto that hope, and allow yourself to think about it this week, maybe even to
talk about it. Offer it to God in your prayer time and allow it to creep into
your dreams. Let’s just see what happens.
And while you’re hoping, here’s an earworm from the Dixie
Chicks…
I hope, for more love, more joy and laughter
I hope, we'll have more than we'll ever need
I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly
And we can lose all the pain and misery
I hope, I hope
I hope, we'll have more than we'll ever need
I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly
And we can lose all the pain and misery
I hope, I hope
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