Hope

Monday, December 2, 2024

By Elaine Eberhart

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Read: Luke 21:35-36

This autumn was not easy for most of us. Regardless of the candidates my family and friends favored, there was uneasiness about what would happen. We waited for the next speech, the next prediction about post-election life, and we hoped for the best, whatever that meant for us.

Though I believe that God is moving in our world with justice and love, I had moments when the news I read brought despair. One night when I was unable to sleep, I realized that I was repeating the last line of a creed we often affirm as a congregation: In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. *

When I can believe little else, I cling to those words. And if I watch, I see those words come to life even on the most difficult day, sometimes through a simple kindness that I did not expect. Hope in God’s abiding presence enables us to see signs of love reborn in us and in our world each day. Hope in God’s future empowers us to live faithfully, knowing that God will be present in whatever that future brings.

We who are united by our call to follow Jesus, and are sustained by the Spirit, are not alone on the road to Bethlehem this Advent. God is with us.

Thanks be to God.

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Prayer

Holy One, enable us to wait with hope, watching for signs of your transforming love and aligning our lives to the movement of your Spirit.

Amen.

*”A Statement of Faith of The United Church of Canada”, 1968

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