Advent Week One in Review
 |
| Photo by George Becker from Pexels |
Advent has arrived, the much-anticipated tradition that
signals something better is on the way. Better than we can ever dream or
imagine, and I don't know about you, but living in 2020 makes me desperate for
better. This week it became crystal clear that my hope had been misplaced
in lies that posed as hope. Identifying and digging them out was
daunting and depressing, much harder and darker than I anticipated,
and I'm pretty sure there is a lot more digging in my future. Sigh.
Isn't hope supposed to make you happy instead of leaving you in a muddy puddle
of discontent? It took some time, deep personal reflection, and
repentance, but the promise wooed me back to perfect peace: hope in
Jesus. It felt like a warm, GIANT bear hug. Something this
particular single woman is sorely lacking. Dang pandemic.
"Hope deferred makes the heart
sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs13:12-14
Hope is a big word. There is a lot riding on it.
It can often be frustratingly illusive, but it springs eternal, so we keep on
keeping on. We desperately want to hope in something or someone.
Over and over, we misplace our hope in the expectation of things turning out
the way we want, or the way we think GOD wants. But 2020 laid bare all of
our expectations. Most of our desires have been crushed. We have
been left with deep wounds and defied at every turn, even the generations
of privilege and nations of excess have felt it. In a year like this it
can be easier to place our hope in tangible things instead of Jesus. He
seems archaic and out of touch. Dare I say that to some he even seems
irrelevant.
Instead, we place our hope in politicians. Jobs. Relationships. Money. Churches. And many other things that are mostly out of our control. Sometimes our candidates win, and sometimes they lose. And guess what, most of the ones who win STILL disappoint us. Hope deferred.
Jobs are not as secure as we thought and years of work may go up in flames with one misstep, or a pandemic that shifts the bottom line, and all of your labor is disregarded in an instant. Businesses close, or restructure and the next thing you know the job disappears. Hope Deferred.
Relationships, no matter how healthy still have dysfunction that slaps us in the face. We dutifully play our roles, and yet, misunderstandings abound. The people we love most don't always bow to our expectations or love us like we want or need to be loved. Hope Deferred.
Money masquerades as security. We strive to achieve the American Dream or buy our latest "need" (and I did PLENTY of that this week), but the euphoria of scoring a deal comes with a price tag. We have to pay up and sometimes it is overwhelming. We quickly learn that our security can crumble at any moment, we can lose jobs, overextend ourselves, and eventually become slaves to the thing we thought would free us. Hope Deferred.
Even our churches become fodder for gossip, and
bitterness, and broken relationships because try as we may, we cannot function
when our hope is in our faith leaders instead of God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. When the fault lines appear and our humanity is most obvious, we
draw lines in the sand and leave a trail of tears as we walk away. Let me
be the first to say that I am as guilty of this as anyone. Hope
Deferred.
Almost all of us have had to hard swallow these bitter
pills. I too have railed at God and tried to walk away from his
mysterious force. Sulked and whined and raged at the state of this world,
and not just in 2020. But the really beautiful thing in all of this
reflection; this brutal look at the blackness living in my heart is that the
deep dive into the Scriptures about hope show me that it is NOT deferred when it
is placed in Jesus. Because Jesus the immortal became Jesus in flesh and
blood. He inhabited the fragile body of a baby, the pre-pubescent skin and raging hormones of a teenage boy (for that he gets EXTRA points), the
strong muscles and body of a young laborer doing hard workday in and day
out.
He came for us in the flesh THEN and he pursues us in the
Spirit NOW. That is the HOPE we all need. That is the HOPE we are
missing even if we don't know it. That is the source or love, joy, peace
and complete acceptance. He loves us in our messes, our brilliance, our
selfishness and our sacrifices, our loyalty, our betrayal, our panic,
bitterness, joy and loneliness. He just loves us. As we were, as we
are, and as we will be.
I know it seems crazy; believe me I understand, but
shockingly So.Does.God. He is not offended or afraid of your
hopelessness, questions, doubts, fears, or anger. In fact, he will meet you in the middle of your own muddy puddle of discontent. This season,
whether you believe as I do or not, I pray that you make room for genuine
hope. It will bring you perfect peace.
