I love Advent! The blue colors of the paraments in the sanctuary, the anticipation, the music that calls us to wait and be ready stirs me to rest in this season. When everything around me is bustling, this Christian season nurtures my soul in its song and celebration. Yesterday at St. Peter's we learned how hope is one of the key ingredients in our journey with God. I have often said that without hope I could not live. When our son died seven years ago, I thought my heart would break. It was my hope in Jesus and knowing that God would be with me in the darkest of hours, hanging on to that hope, that kept me whole.
This eleventh chapter of Hebrews gives us a litany of people who lived by faith and it starts out by telling us that faith and hope go hand in hand. As a parent I am keenly aware of how hope guides me on many a frightening day. As our youth face a barrage of evil everyday, I constantly hope and pray that the love of God we share with them will take root and reign in their lives someday. As children of an elderly parent, Daryl and I constantly hang on to the hope that we will not waver in our care of Mom and that her days will be joyful and pain free. As a pastor, I hope that in growing our parish, folks will encounter a deep spiritual connection with God and the faith community that sustains them.
These dreams and hopes are not unlike the stories in Hebrews 11. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we wrote a St. Peter's book of faith and hope? I am sure we would have many examples of how hope kept us through the dark days and nights. However, Chrisitan hope is not a simple wish such as I hope I get a big screen tv for Christmas. It is grounded in the knowledge of God's deep love and compassion for us. Our hope is stabilized by the history and traditions of our ancestors, and the future promise of the Son of God to come again. Our longings for joy in the future are driven by the nurture of one another sharing how God holds us when we weep tears in the night.
So this Advent Season I invite us to spend time remembering the ways in which God has held on to us. At the same time, let us look to the future, calling on God to hear our dreams and concerns knowing full well that our hopes will be realized. We may not know when, but we can be assured that God delights in being in our midst.
Reflections and Journaling
Blessings - how has hope in God held you in tough times? What does it mean to hope for things not yet seen? How does hope in God change us during Advent?
Challenge- name the times or situations in which you feel hopeless. Name the dreams you hold for yourself or someone else that seem unattainable. Now turn them over to God and wait for God to work.
Prayer - God of hope, God of promise, you reign in our lives when we make enough room for you. Come now and turn our hopes into realities. Shake us out of our fear and replace it with hope in you. Plant within us courage to dream and then place them in your hands. In the name of Jesus who said, "I have come to make all things new." Amen
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