Slideshow image

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; or the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its  bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has  been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Romans 8: 18-25

As we enter the month of November we are bookended by celebrations in the Christian calendar where “hope” is a major theme. We begin the month with All Saints’ Sunday, and as we end the month we enter into the season of Advent. Both of these church year events call on Christians to hope for that which we cannot see. All Saints, of course, is the  celebration of all who have gone before us in the faith. On this Sunday we remember those who have passed the faith on to us, from the first Christians so many centuries ago to our latest dearly departed. As we remember we do so with the greatest of hopes, that God will be true to God’s promises, that the God who sent Jesus into the world, the God who  saced crucifixion and triumphed in resurrection, is the God who will give the gift of everlasting life to those who have faced the great enemy… death. Still, this remains a hope, because, this side of the grave, we don’t have the concrete  proof that life continues in the presence of God. We find the proclamation, the promise of everlasting life in Scripture, and ultimately see our hope in God’s gift of resurrection that the apostles witnessed in the crucified Jesus. Jesus, we believe, is the first fruits of what God will do, the very one who destroyed the power of death for us and for all the saints. So we hope, fervently hope, in this promise, even though we don’t see the final results. Yet Paul reminds us, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes in what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” It is this patient hope that greets us in Advent. Advent, in a very real way, is the season of hope. Advent is the dual promise of the coming of the Messiah, first in the baby born in Bethlehem, but  ultimately in the Christ who is promised to come and bring us the full presence of God, through whom we will be
made whole, the fullness of life will be ours, and our hope will be realized. In the face of the darkness of this world, we light candles on the Advent wreath to announce our hope, to defy the darkness and to focus on what God has promised. Still, we do not have the fulfillment of these promises. We get bits and pieces of them… a foretaste of the feast to come… in the proclaiming of the promises God has made in Jesus and in Baptism and Communion. As we gather for Word and Sacrament in the presence of the risen Christ we are graced with promise and called to hope. In this crazy world in which we live, we hear from God through Jesus and the witness of the faithful that God has spoken the final word over our lives and over all creation. In between All Saints’ Sunday and Advent, we also celebrate Christ the King Sunday, a day on which we proclaim the One in whom our hope resides. We don’t just hope, “pie in the sky,” for things to get better. We hope in the very one whom God sent to reveal what God has done, is doing, and ultimately will do. As we live in the meantime, even when things seem to be dark or scary or out of control, we find truth in our hope. “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.” Romans 5: 3-5.