HOPE is the theme chosen by our Worship Team for Advent meditation. We engaged a good discussion among the team members about the meaning and the experience of hope. Which comes first, faith or hope? How do we experience hope? How can we maintain the gift of hope? It was a good beginning for thinking about worship meditations centered on the theme. Hope is a gift for today, in this moment, while also looking ahead to the future with the light of hope in our eyes. Hope in the life of someone living with chronic pain or a diagnosis of mental illness may look different than hope in the life of someone searching for a meaningful job. And, I believe, that hope in the lives of we people called Christians does look different from others. What hope looks like in our lives shows others the Spirit of God, and I Peter 3:15 says “Always be ready to make a witness to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.”

What does your witness of hope look like; sound like? Hope needs careful nurturing. There was a time in my life when I lost hope and it was the hope of other close friends around me that kept me alive. This Advent season I want to help us nurture hope in our life together. Jesus’ birth brought hope back to a tribe of people that had lost their way. Mary nurtured it. Zachariah, Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Anna, and Simeon found it. They passed it on. Jesus lived it. Thank God.

The November/December issue of “Alive Now” also has hope as its theme. Pick one up at church if you haven’t already. There is this wonderful quote from Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380) there, “In the light of faith I hope. Do not allow me to faint by the way. This light, without which I should still walk in darkness, teaches me the road.”