"And hope does not disappoint us..."
- Romans 5:5
As I have gone through the last week it has felt increasingly important to find a moment of hope, like coming up for a breath from under the waters of sadness and longing. If we are, in fact, going to do the hard work of Advent - the honest self-evaluation, the intentional observation of the world, the heavy listening to the heartbreak of others - then one of our greatest needs will be hope.
Advent carries for us this important reminder, the good news that Hope has come. Hope was present with us when the Divine came to dwell in a small, frail, human body and walk among us; or perhaps earlier when the Great Mystery promised itself in love to a man and all his descendants across time and space; or even earlier perhaps when the Spirit of God was breathed into the first human. And every day in between on which a person arose to a new morning, a new possibility, Hope has been present with us, in and among us from the beginning.
In the words of theologian Ivone Gebara:
“hope is in our bones, walking in our steps, breathing in our very breath.”
Today’s song says ‘this is not the end…we will open our eyes wider, this is not the end…we will open our mouths wider.’ I might insert a 'because' in where the elipses are. We carry within us the hope that strengthens one another, that holds the promise of God’s coming, that builds among us now the lifeways of that promise: peace, justice, love.
Take a deep breath. The hope is inside you.
May we open our eyes wide to see hope incarnate in each of us.
May we open our mouths wide to speak hope into the lives of all whom we meet.
May we stretch our arms wide to hold hope in the tense balance of all that we carry through this Advent season.
-Lindsey
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