All of us are hoping for something. I’ve had more than a fair share of hopes these first weeks in Brooklyn. I spent my first hour here hoping that my box spring would fit through my door if we tried one more time. I hope that I learn to properly use my washer/dryer combo so that I don’t have to iron every article of clothing that comes out of it. I hope what I think is curbing my dog is actually curbing my dog.
That’s one kind of hope. There are also hopes that carry more weight. We hope our children handle preschool well. We hope our marriage gets stronger when it feels strained. We hope our new president-elect will do a good job. We hope that our families will be happy and healthy.
A few nights after I moved here, I was wearing Converse tennis shoes walking down State Street. As I look down at my feet, crying, I experienced God-hope. A small wave of missing my old life came. My dog, my family, my friends, all that was familiar felt suddenly out of reach. But, as I looked down at my feet, through watery, blurred eyes, I experienced a flash of how fully I will one day understand exactly why God brought me here. It was hope. Hope is not about certainty. We cannot be certain that everything in life is going to go well. Hope, rather, is a choice in the absence of certainty that makes all the difference. Hope is a promise in God’s story made to you and me and anyone willing to choose it in the face of uncertainty.
We are invited to participate in a great hope that cannot be taken away. Hope that love, God-love, will become second nature in and through us. Hope is the gift of Jesus Christ. We may not get angels and shepherds reminding us to hope, but the gift of God among us is forever present if we are looking for it. And, that IS reason for hope.
Welcome to the season of a greater hope. Welcome to Advent, a time carved out of this year for the purpose of reflecting on greater hope; hope that things are being made right, hope that what is broken is being restored, hope that love will win and that joy and peace are already here, waiting for us. We need to live with that hope.
Liz Coates
