Hope in uncertainty…
The theme of the first week of Advent is Hope.
Far from the simple themes of a peaceful and silent night, hope - the birth of Jesus - enters into the messiness of humanity. Circumstances far from ideal: occupied Israel, a scandalous pregnancy, and a young family fleeing for their lives all set the stage for the advent of our hope.
Maybe you’re coming into this advent season and your circumstances are far from ideal. Perhaps your life feels occupied by fear, shrouded in scandal, or fighting for your life.
Regardless of the uncertainties you are facing, may you find hope in our Savior who isn’t distant but enters the messiness of life as Immanuel: God with us.
The following prayer is a newfound favorite of mine titled “Hope in Uncertainty” out of the book Every Moment Holy by Douglas Kaine McKelvey
“In the midst of whatever follows, O Lord, let me meet your mercies anew, and anew, and anew.
In the midst of my dismay, fix my eyes again and again upon your eternal promises.
How this ends--that is up to you.
If the next news is favorable, I will praise you for the ongoing gift of life.
If tomorrow's tidings are worse, still will I proclaim your goodness, my heart anchored ever more firmly in the eternal joys you have set before me.
And when, whether days or decades from now, you finally bid me rise and follow you across the last valley, I will rejoice in your faithfulness even there.
Especially there-
praying Thy will be done,
and trusting by faith that it will be done.
That it is being done. Even now.
Even in this disquiet.
I am utterly yours, O Christ.
In the midst of this uncertainty,
I abandon myself again to you,
the author and the object of all my truest hopes.
Amen.”
