Advent Week One: Hope

 

I invite you to light one single candle, a candle of Hope, as you read this meditation.

O come, Desire of Nations bind all peoples in one heart and mind;

Make envy, strife and quarrels cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s peace. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel!

We wrap up and wind down this first week of Advent.  I find the above words so powerful amid the pandemic and polarization of this world we inhabit.  God, please help me set aside envy, the way I compare and contrast my life to others.  Help me set aside the strife I feel internally and ways I participate in spreading strife externally.  God evoke and provoke peace within me so that I overflow peace to others.

Each and every day this week I invited you to one single candle, “Hope”.  Now, I want you to reflect on hopes in your heart.  First, start with writing that word, “Hope” in the center of a piece of paper.  Then, all around it, write words that stir within you.  I hope for a vaccine; good health for my family/friends; for our church to be able to gather and sing together; that in some way I would share love with those who are grieving; kids to be surrounded with love; those leading our church to be grounded and guided by wisdom; our leaders to stop political point scoring and start governing; that these words I write to you might somehow and in someway make a difference.

Now, step back and breathe.  Pause.  Wait.  Watch.  Wonder.  

After a minute, were there any other words that stirred within you?

Now, step back and breathe.  Pause.  Wait.  Watch.  Wonder.

Pick up another color pen or pencil and prayerfully ponder what God’s hopes for you are?  If God wrote a prayer for you, what words might God select and write upon your heart and life today?

May what is evoked and provoked by these questions be your prayer, and may your words be embodied and embraced by you this day.

Amen.