Let’s talk about hope…

Come, sing a song with me, come, sing a song with me, come, sing a song with me, that I might know your mind.

And I’ll bring you hope when hope is hard to find, and I’ll bring a song of love and a rose in the wintertime.

Come, dream a dream with me, come, dream a dream with me, come, dream a dream with me, that I might know your mind.

And I’ll bring you hope when hope is hard to find, and I’ll bring a song of love and a rose in the wintertime. —Hymn #346 by Carolyn McDade

Hope certainly is hard to find right now. Besides the dreadfulness of the virus in and of itself, the political, social, and economic realities happening to and around us layers seemingly insurmountable obstacles on our path to justice and liberation for all. It seems almost naive to hold out hope for a shiny new world at this point in time.

But yet, it’s imperative that we do, or humanity will never find a new way.

My seminary reading this week is a book called “Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy” by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. They write about how engaging in an active hope- hope as a verb, hope that inspires action- helps us step into a “state of aliveness”.

Macy and Johnstone explain how we have 3 stories to choose from:

1. Business as usual- nothing needs to change.
2. The Great Unraveling- drawing attention to the destruction of #1 but feeling hopeless about doing anything about it.
3. The Great Turning- recognizing the destruction and the faults in #1 and #2, and choosing to find and offer our own gifts, helping the emergence of new and creative ways.

Engaging in creating a story of “The Great Turning” is the only way forward. I see our congregation doing this in the ways we know how, and I look forward to seeing how those ways lead us down the path to reveal new ways. Do you see how being active and working together helps keep us hopeful and moving forward? Don’t give up!

According to the authors, here are 4 things we need to keep in mind as we continue to do the work that “reconnects”:

1. Come from a place of gratitude.
2. Honor our pain for the world.
3. See with new/ancient eyes.
4. Go forth.

Here is a link to this work: https://workthatreconnects.org/spiral/

As I proceed through the book, I will write more reflections. But in the meantime, will you join me in learning a new way forward? Will you help me to gather up more hope? Sing a song and dream a dream with me during this winter of our lives?

May despair not rule our futures.