Hope

Today's readings: Psalms 90, 149; Isaiah 4:2-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 21:5-19

Now that it’s almost over, let’s consider the traditional theme of this first week of Advent: Hope. Does that seem inconsistent with the earlier posts of the week? We’ve spent a good chunk of time considering how not to be a Christian, and that doesn’t seem especially hopeful. But what is hope? It is the desire for, and possibly even the faith in, a better future. By definition, it implies at least some dissatisfaction with the present. There’s nothing wrong with being dissatisfied with our faith lives, with feeling that somehow they fall short of what they could be. Such feelings may even be essential to prodding us into deepening our relationship with God. It doesn’t mean our faith lives are not good and rich. Such dissatisfaction today, this week, this season, is an indicator that we hope they will be even better in days to come.

For hope to be more than a sentimental notion, we must face the things that we hope will change. Some of those things will be external, such as injustice, poverty and discrimination. Others like resentment, fear and hypocrisy will be internal. But being brutally honest about these things doesn’t mean we hand them power over our lives. Being able to name them takes that power away. The beauty of hope – a hope that is backed by the promises of Christ – is that it tells us we and the world are not defined by how we have failed, but by who God has created us to be. Many people – far too many, Christian and non-Christian – let mistakes and failures define how they see themselves and get trapped in those definitions. Hope is what we have when we can believe if only for an instant that God sees us as better than we see ourselves.

Isaiah had to show the Israelites their many failings and the inevitable consequences before he could show them the hope that lay beyond. Paul admitted the Thessalonians would have to confront danger head-on before finding the glory of God. Jesus told his listeners: “By your endurance you will gain your souls” ( Luke 21:19). Hope exists not because we are in denial about how bad things are today, but because God helps us see tomorrow.

Evening readings: Psalms 80, 72

Advent, Week 1: Dusting Off The Hope Diamond

Today's readings: Ps 102, 148, Amos 5:1-17, Jude 1-16, Matt 22:1-14

The first week of Advent is traditionally the week of Hope. That being the case, today’s scriptures may leave us thinking: “… Really?” The psalmist is so distraught he is feasting on ashes and slaking his thirst with tears. Amos addresses the many injustices experienced by the poor and the nearly invisible status of the hungry. Jude warns the recipients of his epistle they are surrounded by false teachers and Christians who pervert the Gospel to serve their own appetites. And Jesus’ parable about a wedding banquet? The guests not only don’t show up, but they murder the bearers of the invitations. And the poor guy pulled in off the street is tossed into the outer darkness for not wearing the right outfit. These readings seem to offer little if anything to inspire us.

Suffering. Injustice. Hunger. Bad religion. The collapse of civil society. Sound familiar? If these and other problems still dog us two thousand years after the messiah showed up, what cause is their for hope?

Plenty, it turns out. These things are addressed in the scriptures because God weeps and rages with us that the world is so broken. We can have hope because God doesn’t want us to remain in this brokenness. Our own dissatisfaction with the present world, mirrored in these scriptures, tells us God is bursting through in our own hearts and hopes for a better tomorrow. Who doesn’t appreciate a good inspirational story? Hearing how someone has transformed her life by refusing to let go of hope connects with us on a deep level because the God at our center promises the same for all of us. Jesus is not the savior of the never-been-broken, but of those needing resurrection. Jesus comes back for the one lost sheep.

Hope is a precious resource, but like diamonds it may require a lot of time, pressure and digging to emerge. Unlike diamonds, it can be found by anyone. When we dust off hope and polish it up, it shines not just for our own enjoyment but as a light to the world.

Comfort: Even buried hope can be recovered.

Challenge: Pick an inspirational movie to watch and discuss with family and/or friends.

Prayer: God of Hope, may others find hope in my example.

Evening reading: Ps 130, 16

Discussion Question:When and how has hope carried you through difficult times? Please comment.

Hoping without Expecting

Today's readings: Ps 33, 146, Amos 3:1-11, 2 Peter 1:12-21, Matt 21:12-22

One of the great comforts of Advent is knowing that it will culminate in Christmas. This conclusion is such a given that most of us spend what is really the Advent season surrounded by Christmas trappings. But what if we weren’t so sure? What if we, like the Jews waiting for the Messiah, had no idea what was coming or how it would look when it got here?

Today’s psalms remind us we are foolish to place our hope in anyone or anything but God. The subsequent readings make it clear we would be wise not to wrap that hope in too many assumptions. Amos’ harsh word to the Israelites is that the hard times they are about to experience are a result of God’s love (Amos 3:2). Who saw that one coming? And Jesus confounds both contemporary and historical expectations when he curses a fig tree for failing to bear fruit. This action doesn’t fit comfortably with our present-day notion of a loving and forgiving Christ, and it was no less confusing for the disciples. (Matt 21:18-21).

Again and again, the God we trust defies our expectations and pre-definitions. To paraphrase John Lennon, “God is what happens while you are making other plans.” When we pray “Thy will be done,” are we really abandoning attachment to our own wills, or do we usually have a pretty good idea of what God’s will might be?

This Advent, can we hope without expecting? Can we, like Peter, admit God’s will is not defined by our interpretation, but by a love and spirit that is beyond definition (2 Peter 1:19-20)? Can we be open to the possibility that God’s will may take us places we don’t want to go with people we don’t want to know? The familiar manger scene that completes the Advent journey is only comforting because it has grown familiar. For Mary and Joseph, it was the terror of giving birth in a barn. Neither of them wanted to be there. Yet despite dashed expectations, their hope was rewarded. This Advent season, let’s commit to an unknown path instead of a well-worn rut, and find out where Hope can lead us.

Comfort: We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield (Ps 33:20).

Challenge: Change one thing about your Christmas traditions.

Prayer: God of Hope, Thy will be done.

Evening reading: Ps 85, 94

Discussion Question: Have you ever experienced a blessing when your expectations were overturned?

Keep Lighting the Candle

Today's readings: Ps 90, 149; Isa 4:2-6; 1 Thes 4:1-12; Luke 20:41-21:4

Today concludes the first week of Advent, the week focused on Hope. Tomorrow anyone with an Advent wreath will light the second Advent candle, but they will also re-light the Hope candle, and keep lighting it until the day they light the Christ candle.

One of the joys of Advent is knowing exactly when Christ will arrive – the day is already marked on our calendars. Today’s scriptures from Isaiah, 1 Thessalonians and Luke addressed people who were waiting for their own day of deliverance, but waiting without a clear end date. These writers warned that in the meantime, things would get tougher – maybe even terrible. While none of them named a specific day, all of them were confident the day would come.

Still we wait. We watch things get better in some areas and worse in others. We know from the past that the future will be both glorious and terrible. Wars begin and end. Diseases appear and disappear. Hungry people are fed, and new people go hungry. Nothing in the world is new, yet we are made new in Christ. How are we to maintain Hope in Christ’s promises for a new and better kingdom in the face of such contradiction?

Our relationship with Hope must evolve. If faith maps our lives, Hope is no longer a pushpin marking some dream destination, but a great big arrow proclaiming “You are HERE!” When we light a candle of Hope – by visiting a sick friend, working for equality, feeding the hungry – God’s kingdom exists wherever the light of those candles shines. Like the light of a distant star, Hope is something we observe in the present, but is evidence of the past and the future.

The day we are waiting for is always today. If we are living in relationship with God, does it really matter when Christ returns? If knowing a date changes how we live, we aren’t living in Hope, but in desperation. It is in the act of lighting the candle – in letting the Hope of Christ illuminate our hearts – that Christ returns again and again.

Comfort: We hope for God’s kingdom and dwell in it simultaneously.

Challenge: Every day find a way to add light to the sum of light.

Prayer: God of Hope, I will trust you with my future.

Evening readings: Ps 130, 60

Tomorrow's readings: Ps 24, 150; Isa 5:1-7; 2 Peter 3:11-8; Luke 7:28-35

First Sunday of Advent: Hope

Today's readings: Ps 24, 150; Isaiah 1:1-9; 3 Peter 1:1-10; Matthew 25:1-13

Today we begin the four-week season of Advent. Advent isn’t merely the prelude to Christmas. It is distinct in purpose and tone. Like Lent it is a season meant for reflection and preparation for the coming of Christ. Each Sunday has a specific theme, and today’s theme is Hope. Hope is one of those virtues some secularists attribute to simple-mindedness. Yet Christian hope is not a Pollyana, rose-colored experience.

3 Peter 1:10 Peter addresses Christian hope for the parousia, or second coming of Christ. The author attempts to assure his audience that, despite some people’s flagging belief in Christ’s imminent return, God is not slow but patient. Nearly two thousand years after this letter was written, we have experienced even more of God’s patience, and even bigger questions and doubts about Christ’s return.

In Matthew's Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, Jesus talked about five bridesmaids who put oil in their lamps in preparation for the coming bridegroom, and five others who did not. When the bridegroom arrived in the night, the unprepared bridesmaids were left behind. Of course the fate of the bridesmaids represents that of people who are prepared or unprepared for the second coming of Christ.

Of what use are these parables and letters to us today? Christians have varying opinions about the literal or metaphorical truth about the second coming, but wherever one falls on that spectrum, as Christians we should share a common trait: Hope. We share hope that God is in the process of transforming the world into the vision offered by Christ. Hope does not mean we coast through life waiting for God to do something. Rather, it means we live as if Christ’s reign is already here. We don’t expect children to prepare for adulthood by remaining children: we expect them to gradually assume the responsibilities of an adult. In the same way prepare ourselves to be the bridegrooms of Christ by living as Christ instructed us. Whether the parousia is around the corner or not becomes irrelevant as we become the people God yearns for us to be.

Comfort: God is present in your life right now.

Challenge: This Advent, make use of an Advent wreath.

Prayer: God of hope, I fill the lamp of my heart for you.

Evening readings: Ps 25, 110

Tomorrow's readings: Ps 122, 145; Isaiah 1:10-20; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Luke 20:1-8