Advent Hope

What do you hope for in the coming year?

I don’t mean what the children are waiting for Santa Claus to bring them in a few
weeks, kind of hope, t-h-o-u-g-h we could all learn something from that energy and
anticipation.

What are you hoping for this coming year?



Most adults are too shy, fearful or even ashamed to name our big and
lasting hopes. We make do. We make do with lesser things, like shopping for
things that won’t answer our hopes for more than an instant. We make due
because we sometimes are afraid to dream.

What are you hoping for?

What holy dream keeps you searching in the midst of darkness? How do you tend
to that place in your heart which your longings for healing, justice, love and peace
stir? How do you let them grow? How do you keep on going?

This is a place of hope. We are community of hope.

We are all in the same boat, we want to be valued, we want to be healthy, we want
to be welcomed in a place of safety and be nurtured by the people who care for us
and by the people who love us.

Once we get a little experience of that, we j--u--s--t might have enough courage to
go on back out there and get to work on our hopes. That’s how it works, building
trust in relationships with a foundation of honesty, empathy and compassion.

Once we take that chance and hope, we catch a glimpse of a dream that’s big
enough and encouraging enough to begin to drive out our fears and birth a deep,
abiding and transforming kind of hope, believing it is possible. And yes, Virginia,
“All things are possible with God.”

That’s the kind of hope I see every where. I see it in the cancer patient who knows that the waning days of his life have meaning, he’s grateful for his wife of 50 years, he’s giving thanks for the blessing of the sun’s warmth through his window each day and he’s hopeful for what is coming. I see hope in the healing hands of the occupational and physical therapists the doctors and nurses. I see hope in the cafeteria staff as they prepare meals that nourish our bodies enabling us to nourish those we serve. I see hope in the passion and commitment of those who work here in partnership, building relationships to serve the sick and injured, bringing hope to everyone they touch. Theologian Henri Nouwen reminds us in today’s reading,

“In the eyes of another , It is to see that he understands you.
As long as there is still hope.”

This is hope in the eyes of new parents seeing their baby for the first time and in
the eyes of patients who cannot speak, trusting the staff, their caregivers,
volunteers and families. It is the hope in the eyes of the staff as they care for one
another. It is the hope in the eyes and hearts of families as they help a loved one on their journey to eternal life.

Family, friends, staff….For many, you are the voice of hope.

Hope makes all things possible. It’s about new life, the new life of God’s breath
and spirit within each and every one of us, to transform us ,so we can be a blessing
to others, in the way that they need us to be.

That kind of hope requires enough vulnerability to own our fears. We can’t
really hope unless we know what’s wrong. When we can begin to name and
acknowledge those fears, we’ll find that hope is a cure.It brings meaning and purpose.

Hope – holy hope. This is hope that we hand over to God and let Him carry us, releasing every concern,every burden to rest in the love of God. SO....

Let Go and Let God.

Let God work.

Let God work in our darkness. While we wait and yearn for light in our darkness, in our struggles, in our work, in our diagnosis, something happens. The door that seemed to be slammed shut leads to an open window and we hear God’s whisper…

Be still and know that I am God.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. The God of Jacob is our refuge and our strength.

It is not always easy. God will trouble you, God will comfort you, God will stir you up, and God will calm you. But do not cease to breathe God’s spirit into your soul.

Breathe in the breath of God and exhale Hope. This is our light. This is hope.

Namaste'
Maureen