Scripture Readings:
Jer 33:14-16
1 Thes 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Nurturing Hope in
Troubling Times
There’s an old
Cherokee tale about a grandfather teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is
going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight between two
wolves. One is evil – he is fear, anger, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, guilt,
resentment, and ego.” “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope,
empathy, generosity, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside
you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a
minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee
simply replied, “The one you feed.”
What are we feeding
inside ourselves this Advent? I love Advent because for me it is a time
pregnant with imagery of the divine feminine, of Mary nurturing the life of God
inside her and preparing to birth that life, that love, that light into the
world. And this is an image and metaphor that all are invited to find
themselves in, not just women, because we are all called to birth God’s life,
light, and love to the world. The life we bring into the world depends on what
we feed, what we nurture inside ourselves. Since the theme for the first Sunday
of Advent is Hope, I would like us to reflect tonight on how we feed, how we
nurture hope inside of us. And we don’t nurture this hope in a vacuum, we do it
in our current context, in the midst of troubling times.
The audience of
Jeremiah in our first reading today, knows all too well what it means to live
in troubling times. Judah and Jerusalem are under siege. The north is occupied
by the Assyrians, and they are living in constant fear of invasion and
occupation by the Babylonians. Many have already been taken captive,
imprisoned, tortured, and killed. They are being taken away from their home and
their temple, the dwelling place of their God. And it’s no surprise given all
of this chaos, turmoil, and suffering that they begin to despair. Their despair
is characterized by the absence of theological hope; they can no longer imagine
God’s promised alternative future. In steps Jeremiah, to remind them of God’s
promise, that despite all the surrounding evidence to the contrary there will
come a day when the House of Judah shall be safe and their holy city of
Jerusalem secure. God’s justice and righteousness will reign supreme, and the kings
and priests too will proclaim and live out the reign of God.
This is such an
important scripture piece to begin the Advent season because it points to the
importance of waiting, anticipating, and trusting in a promised future that
seems very removed from our current circumstance. The hope of Advent isn’t a
superficial, pie in the skype type of hope, but a profound, radical hope that
knows that in the least likely of places, when it is most difficult to imagine,
God makes a way for her love and life to break through. In the creative moment
of near-despair, the prophet calls us to imagine a new social context in which
we live together in safety, peace, and righteousness. We are called to not only
name the suffering and injustice of the present, but to lean into God’s
promised alternative future.
This isn’t so far
removed from our own reality. We too are living in troubling times. I have to
be honest that I don’t often watch the cable news channels, but I am pretty
plugged into social media, and every day I see stories of war, violence,
discrimination, another life lost, someone else who was targeted because of
their race, or religion, or sex, or sexual orientation. I see stories about
about the hundreds of thousands of people trapped in human trafficking, about
the devastating effects of climate change, species on the brink of extinction,
and increased pollution of the water and air that keeps life on this planet
alive. It can get really overwhelming. And it’s tempting to fall into despair.
But through these same
channels I also can see and hear the stories of hope, which often aren’t
covered by mainstream media. And it is so important that I have that balance.
Because suffering and injustice are not the whole story and are certainly not
God’s final word. I look around me and see hope in the stories of communities
coming together, resisting oppression, demanding justice, and getting it at
great risk to their own lives. Stories of communities organizing to prevent
mining, oil, and coal companies from coming in and destroying the land and the
people who live there. Stories of an individual act of love and compassion
inspiring others to similar acts of love and compassion.
Alice Walker says that
“hope is a woman who has lost her fear” and I see that every day. I am inspired
and filled with hope by strong women of color who refuse to feed their fear,
and instead stand up and fight back. Ferguson, Black Lives Matter, and Mizzou
would not have become the movements they are today without the leadership of
black queer women. These women are hope. I nurture my own hope by knowing them,
knowing about them, and placing myself in these spaces of radical hope and
radical resistance, where the wolves of fear and despair don’t stand a chance.
Each of us has the
opportunity every day to be our own hope, and to inspire and nurture hope in
others. We do that here in this community. Sts. Clare & Francis and the ECC
is hope for me. We are a people who were told “No you can’t” or “just wait” in
so many different ways, and didn’t listen. We made real our own hope in God’s
promise of a table where all are welcome, no exceptions. And I know we are a
community of people active in our faith. We nurture our hope when we share our
stories as we share our faith.
We can look around us,
name the suffering and injustice of our world, and still choose to nurture the
hope that, in the words of author and activist, Arundhati Roy, “another world
is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her
breathing.” This is the eschatological Hope of Advent, a hope that in the words
of womanist theologian Karen Baker-Fletcher centers on the Kingdom of God which
is already at hand. This womanist hope includes the transformation of society
and all creation from what it is to what it ought to be according to God’s
vision for the world, and it informs the daily moment by moment business of
living.
And so we need to take
time to quiet down, to listen for this breath of hope, to feel the movement of
the Spirit growing new life inside of us to share with the world. Because there
is plenty of noise and chaos that surrounds us and tempts us to despair. Caring
for ourselves, taking quiet time to rest, recharge, and connect with our God,
is itself an act of hope in a world filled with chaos, noise, violence, and
despair.
The wars going on
around us are the same as the wars going on inside of us. Remembering the tale
of the Cherokee grandfather: which wolf will you feed, which wolf do you want
to win? Let us be a people and a community where we feed and nurture the wolves
of hope, Let us be a people and a community that prepares to birth the hope of
God into the world this Advent season, by taking time with our God in prayer,
and nurturing the hope that comes through relationships in communities working
to transform systems of oppression into liberation, so that here and now we can
begin to make real God’s reign of justice and righteousness while we wait for
its ultimate fulfillment.
Amen
