So Then - in the meantime - We Hope

We cannot be sure how life will unfold - how we will trust again - how nightmares will stop and dreams will soar - how we will be a part of the wonder of this day as it moves toward peace and wholeness and justice for all people.

So then - in the meantime - we hope.
We must never stopped hoping. Hope is the wind that carries us into the life of God's Reign that is so close we too often look past it expecting hope to blossom elsewhere. Ha - hoping beyond hope when hope is already giving birth to new life even as we sit wondering when and how it will arrive.

Societies despair - they raise up demons to destroy - they wait for the right time to attack - they restock weapons for the wars to come - they put down plans to rise above others and at the cost of others. Societies do not hope - they seek to control like addicts who must have more and more of that to which their are addicted. Societies wish for that which they can score - no matter what the price may be to others.

So then - in the meantime - we hope.
It is how we live. It is the very breath of us. It is how we will shake off the dust of the day - wipe from our feet whatever we just stepped in - face the bully who has threaten to keep threatening us - bear open our hearts even though they have been broken and exposed - forgive so that violence does not rule us - love without regard for how we will emerge from our loving.

So then, when we are dazed and confused - left high and dry - pushed too far and pressed beyond our breaking point - we hope. There is no waiting involved. Hope comes to life - it is life - it is already at hand. It reaches in from the realm of God's endless creativity and stirs up lives we have let become disconnected from others and self-concerned without end. Hope tickles us - makes us squirm a bit - gets us up from our chairs - turns our eyes to look into the eyes of others - transforms ropes that bind us into ropes that help to tie us all together as one.

We hope not for another day. We hope for a today that is shaped by the promise of a tomorrow that leaves the doors wide open to party. So then - in the meantime - we act - we sacrifice - we protest - we affirm - we stand up with and for and alongside others - we question - we listen - we bend down to serve - we heal - we leave no one behind - we learn to say No and Yes - we open doors - we make ourselves available to hold the vulnerable no matter what the cost. Yes, we hope.

Hope - I find it to be the only power that moves me off my self-centered, self-consuming, self-concerned butt and makes me fly into the makings of a whole new day.
TRRR