HOPE

"A candle is burning, a flame warm and bright,

A candle of HOPE in November's dark night

While angels sing blessings from heaven's starry sky,

Our hearts we prepare now for Jesus is nigh”

~ words by Sandra Dean

Or as Desmond Tutu said, "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." What hopes, I wonder, do we as a society look for?

As the days in the northern hemisphere grow darker with the shortest day of the year occurring on December 21 this year, we are reminded that the light will come again. Not only will the light come again but that it is a coming we cannot control! Indeed we believe in that hope so fervently that we are assured not only that the light will come again, but that it will be accompanied by the warmth and the harvests.

Profits are hoped for, particularly by the retail sector, as we approach the biggest shopping season of the year. In fact some retail businesses rely on the profits of the next few weeks to see them though the coming months of winter.

We all hope each year that it will be the best Christmas ever; that our family will be the one seen in the Christmas commercials- everybody home for Christmas, smiling and happy.

In the lyrics above though, we are urged to put HOPE in our hearts to prepare for the coming of Jesus.

This hope is even more important now than ever before, as we hope beyond all reasonable doubt that the coming of the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus during his ministry, will become a reality before we destroy this planet and all life upon it by either of the disasters of climate change or nuclear war.

Hope however isn't all sweetness and light, nor is it a case of hope being all that is needed. No, we need to put our hope into action, to be prepared to be the voice, the hands and feet of Jesus as we work to make what we hope for a reality.

So as Advent begins and we start our preparations to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we will do well to remember that HOPE requires something from us.

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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