Hope

As our days grow shorter and our nights longer, many people of faith turn to symbols such as candles, evergreens and wreaths to proclaim belief in the unquenchable light. 

Today is the first Sunday of Advent in many churches around the world.  

Today we lit the Candle of Hope.  

It is in hopeful anticipation that I  prepare for my journey to the light, and as I admit that I have not always lived my life in ways pleasing to God. 

Sometimes, perhaps like you, I feel distant from the One who is both Mother and Father to us all and I wait to be reunited with the One who comes from heaven to kindle a fire in my soul...but even now as I wait, I dare to hope. 


I love the prayer shared below because it is inclusive -- it reaches out to everyone and thus, it is a prayer of Hope. 

O Lord God,

we wander in despair, walk in gloom, get tired in the dry land of life,

and do not know where we can find a source of hope.

O God of hope,

let us know where there is life, there is hope.

"When we wait for you in our lives, help us see hope beyond hope,

hope in the Father who is also the Mother,

hope in the Master who is also the Servant,

hope in the Strong who is also the Weak,

hope in the Baby who is also the Lord,

hope in the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Amen"

-- written by Seung Un Tche, former associate minister at Central Christian Church, Lexington, Kentucky

I wish you all a very meaningful Season and joyous Holiday.

Kimmy