But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to
lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly,
love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 1313 (The Message
Translation)
Yesterday, you traced the shape, shade, or size of faith in your
life. Maybe faith as a
teenager was a circle to hold your life that suddenly shrank to a dot in your
college/young adult years. Maybe faith
was a square as a child that became a beautiful cumulus-shaped cloud that keeps
changing across the sky of life today.
Remember, this is never one-and-done; you keep working on your life with
the One who is co-authoring alongside you.
Today, I invite you to hold the word, hope. Was there a symbol of hope as a child? For me, that word makes me think of my
Christmas list as a child; I hoped I would get the gifts I listed. As I grew up, I had hopes that were like
dreams for what my life would be. As
Rev. Sarah Bessey says, hope is a team sport.
I see hope as active and activating and animating not only within me,
but between me and others. What role has
hope played? Or ask: how full your hope
tank is and why? I hear many today feel hopeless
because the events of the world seem so large and troubling. And from history, I hear that people have
faced hate and hurt as a constant theme and thread. Is my hope dependent only on external
evidence to validate it? Is my hope built
on God’s presence, which can feel more nebulous? Is my hope sinking sand? You could go through a hymnal or Google hymns
with the word “Hope”, how is that word set poetically in motion in those
hymns? Play with the word “Hope” and
trace how that word showed up or disappeared throughout your life. May this invitation awaken your awareness of
the story you are telling yourself about this word and how it works in the
world, in your heart, and with God.
Amen.
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