Redemptive Hope

“Hope offers us another outlook on life’s deeper questions of meaning.”

My dear readers,

How joyous it is to turn upward and greet the new spring equinox that creates life out of the slow and cold winter. It is still windy and cold, but I cannot deny the beauty of God’s glorious creation that shines bright in my heart. With trees in bloom and dormant bulbs beginning to burst forth, I too feel a rejuvenation of life and joy at feeling life blossom. With the spring equinox today, of the year 2021, I cannot help but see light at the end of a tunnel. 

With the beginning of a road less traveled far past us, our society awakens to a reality that presents itself to us in the form of hope. Vaccines are rolling out, people are beginning to heal, and we are looking forward to the rituals of Easter. But, as many good churchgoing people say, we must first get through holy week. 

“This yearning, this desire, is the hope of life that extends far into the reality of the universe. We are at once unified with all things, and at the same time separate.”

Can we acknowledge that holy week should be expressed as a holy year? As I look forward to this upcoming holy week, I see the sufferings of multitudes seeking redemption, hope, security, joy, healing, and love. I see the people coming out of graves to witness the life giving salvation of life itself. I see Gehenna being torn asunder to reveal that reality—in all its struggles and denials—is about love and hope. The true revelation is that no amount of suffering can withhold the Kingdom of God from humanity. It is in this reality—God’s Kingdom come—that we find rest from the torment of struggle. It is in this experience of life that death cannot prosper. 

Hope offers us another outlook on life’s deeper questions of meaning. Let me be clear, hope of this nature goes deeper than a wish or desire for something to be that which we want. Rather, this hope is a foundational practice of spirituality that redeems the believer through the experience of inspired faith. This hope is a revelatory act of will to understand the world through the eyes, mind, and heart of God. It's to allow God to live and have the divine presence within you. For I believe that God is ever hopeful; ever believing in and through us to persevere. 

This type of hope, as depicted in the prayer “thy kingdom come, thy will be done”, prepares the soul for an encounter with God. It does this by keeping with the desire for the unseen reality to become not only seen but manifested in the present. We cannot turn our hearts away from this reality, nor can we strip our minds bare—tearing our clothes asunder as our bodies desire to be seen and held.  We must begin to feel this eternal experience of hope. Regardless of faith or creed, there lies deep within every human an essential nature to live. That very essence, primal and terrifying, is at its core hope. There is nothing greater than this internal drive to live, and it is our human capacity as loving and caring creatures to nurture the will to live in an ethical way. 

This doesn’t stop at the bodily experience. It continues on into the depths of your soul. The soul yearns to live, just as the body desires to be alive. This yearning, this desire, is the hope of life that extends far into the reality of the universe. We are at once unified with all things, and at the same time separate. We are individuals part of a whole—the whole just happens to be wholeness itself. And when we turn toward this wholeness (which I experience as God) we are faithfully realizing our part in this unity of creation. Essentially, to hope is to live in God’s eternal glory; experiencing as God experiences, living as God lives. 

So, as we look forward to Easter and continue to prepare for holy week, remember that our eternal essence is rooted in hope. The hope that life continues. The hope that we will begin anew every day. The hope that, no matter what happens, God lives and breathes and has our being. 

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” Matthew 6.28-29