Hope

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

    and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  Isaiah 11:1

Hope is a fickle and fleeting; hope shows up unannounced and can leave just as quick; hope is intrusive and refuses to be ignored.  And yet, if you asked me which of the four Advent candles we will light in church in the coming four weeks (hope, peace, joy, and love) is the most important, I would not hesitate to say, "Hope!"

Hope is as elusive as a snowball in Florida this time of year.  Hope is slippery and can quickly turn to wishing; which is not the same as hoping.  Hoping is active, hope makes demands upon our very lives.  Wishing is more passive.  I can make list after list of wishes, but once I write down my hopes, they stake a claim on my life.

It is difficult to define hope.  The dictionary uses words like "desire and expectation" or a "feeling of trust" or "something to happen".  But that seems to be dancing around what is at the heart of hope.  Hope is a vision that today does not need to be like yesterday; and tomorrow need not be like today.  Hope refuses to stay stuck in a rut.  Hope is movement and momentum toward a vision of what can be.  There is a vulnerability to hope, because life experience teaches us quickly that we do not always live in the land of Hope.  Hope is like a small green shoot that springs forth from a cut of stump.  Isaiah invokes the name of Jesse, who was the father of the great (albeit flawed and totally human) King David.  King David was seen as the embodiment of God's promise to be with God's people.  King David was idealized and romanticized in some of the books of the Bible; and brought down to earth quicker that you can say, "TMZ" in other books of the Bible.  But when Babylon came in 740 BCE and overthrew the Northern Kingdom of the promised land; then conquered the southern part in 588 BCE...the best of times became the worst of times.  The people felt cut off, chopped off, separated from God.  Where is hope then?  Or as the psalmist says, "How can we sing to God in a foreign land (meaning Babylon)?"  Where is your hope when you cannot find the words or the Christmas carols sound out of tune and sync with your life?

How would you define hope?

What do you hope for in these dwindling days of 2014 and as 2015 dawns around us?

Yet, hope keeps showing up.  Hope keeps knocking and telling us that God is not done with us yet.  God keeps showing up, often in the most unlikely ways, like an infant born to two unwed parents.  Like a itinerant preacher two thousand years ago, who call twelve nobodies to follow him, and they did!  Like a love that Rome thought they could squelch by a cross, but love wins on Easter morning.  That kind of hope keeps persisting and pressing for God's realm.  In many ways I think saying the Lord's prayer is an act of hope.  So, this week, keep awake and alert and aware of hope in your life.  Try saying the Lord's prayer every day and look for the ways hope is showing up...and may those moments you are captured by hope be a trace of God's grace this Advent season.

Blessings~

Hope ~ Take Two



The People who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined.  Isaiah 9:2

 

The first week of Advent is grounded and guided by the single word and light of "Hope".  In the English language we often use the words "hope" and "wish" interchangeably.  As a random example, I hope I get a new ipad for Christmas...oh how I wish my wife reading this blog post would heed my not-so-subtle wish for a new ipad.  See how that works?  Hint...Hint...Hint.

 

Yet, within the life of faith, I think there is a difference between hope and wishes.  It is a difference rooted in what God is doing in our midst right here and now; and what we wish God would do at some future point to conspire/conform to our expectations.

 

I realize this might be splitting syntax hairs or playing with words, but I also think that it matters as we journey to Bethlehem.  What exactly are we expecting when we step inside the stable this year to stand in the straw amid the cows and shepherds?  Do we expect to see just another baby?  Will we gaze upon the Christ child and think, "Yup, just as I had thought!" 

 

Or are we willing to be surprised by what we encounter on the road to the manger this year?  John Claypool has said that "surprise" is just another name for God.  Are we surprised by God any more?  Or has our faith gotten into such a well-worn rut that nothing about church/religion/worship/ encounters with God has the ability to leave us speechless?

 

Surprise is important for our understanding of hope because if we only see what we thought we'd see, then maybe we need to be willing to look again.  Hope is about being open to what God is doing, how God is slowly bringing about new life in our world, even here and now.  It is hard to hold onto hope.  It can feel like sand slipping between our fingers.  The more tightly we grasp, the more frustrating it is to see the tiny grains still fall to the ground.  But, am I only seeing the pile of sand congregating on the floor?  Or perhaps do I see the sand that is so stuck to the palm of my hand it would take real effort to get every tiny piece brushed away?  Anyone who has ever been to the beach knows that sand has a glue like quality to it...along with the ability to get in all the wrong places!

 

Brian McLaren has said that where we look will determine what we see.  What we are expecting will impact what we actually observe.  If I am looking for evidence of a broken world, I will see it.  If I am looking for signs of hope, then there is a possibility to see that as well! 

 

Part of the reason why Hope is the important first word of Advent is because if we are not clear about what we hope we might see when we get to Bethlehem this year, we run the risk of seeing only what we've seen every other December.  But the truth is we are different people than we were last year at this time.  Events, experiences, and encounters in 2013 have left a mark upon us.  The road to Bethlehem, while vague familiar, has unexpected twists and turns, if we are awake, alert and aware.  If we are on auto-pilot, however, chances are we will still arrive at a stable, but we may have missed the journey!

 

What I hope for this year is to be aware of God's movement in my life and to hold onto the promise that God is full of surprises.  I will reserve my wishes for packages under the Christmas tree knowing that even if my wishes go unrealized (hence no ipad), I still will encounter something much more beautiful and fulfilling and hopeful this December: God's presence.

 

May the traces of God's presence stir in your life this week.

 

Blessings ~

 

 

 

Hope

 

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.  John 1:5

 

The four Sundays prior to Christmas are part of the church season called, "Advent".  It is a time to prepare for the birth of Jesus.  But how exactly do you do that?  What kind of game plan or plotting would you come up with to prepare to welcome Jesus?  Do you need a banner for that?  Maybe a band?  Or is this just some kind of intellectual exercise?

 

During Advent we use words in church like, "awake", "alert" and "aware".  It sounds like we are being hyper-vigilant or overly anxious about all of this.  Especially when we think about all the other items on our to-do list like: shopping, sending cards, making cookies, attending parties, listening to and singing carols.  And that is just what I hope to do this week!

 

Do those activities help you prepare?  Do you dread some of those tasks?  Maybe the company Christmas party causes you to have a pit in your stomach that isn't just about the food that will be served.  Do you sometimes find yourself wondering why?

 

While those moments when we question why don't always make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside (like we sometimes have lead ourselves to believe we should during the month of December),  why is a very important Advent question.

 

Why does God choose to come to us in the form of a vulnerable infant?  Why do we try to cram so much into the last four weeks of the year?  And especially, why would the church light one Advent candle and call it, "Hope"?

 

Those are good questions.  And I certainly do not have definitive answers for them.  I have some guesses and hunches.  I think God's ways are not our ways.  God says "no" to power systems both at Christmas time and Easter time.  God says that love is often seen in our world as weaker than might and military force but we have to make choices about where we will place our trust, which way will we travel?  I think we tend to over extend ourselves this time of year, because like those late nights before a test/project was due in college, we don't want to enter a new year with regrets or "should haves".  Plus, the frenzied pace of December has become such a cultural force that it actually takes more energy to resist getting caught up in the hoopla than to just go with the flow.  I think the church lights one candle, calls it "Hope", because it is a beautiful action that might actually cause us to stop in our tracks!

 

We call the first Sunday of Advent, "Hope" because in Jesus the hopes and fears of all the years are met in him.  We have hopes for our lives...for our families...for our churches...for our community.  In fact, one of our fears might be that our hopes will go unrealized or unfulfilled.  That certainly makes my stomach churn like I just ate too much of the bacon wrapped sausages at a party! 

 

Can we be honest in this the last month of 2013 about our hopes and our fears?  Can we take prayerful time, light one candle, and sit in silence with God who hears those hopes and fears?  I hope you can.  I pray you will.  And I pray you will sense a trace of God's grace in that.

 

Blessings ~