ADVENT WEEK ONE
December 4, 2020
Hope is Doing
Jeremiah 1:4-10
See, today, I appoint you this day over the nations and kingdoms, to pluck and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. Jeremiah 1:10
Too often, I find myself cheapening the annual advent journey with messages and anecdotes of silent, passive reflection. Pensively yearning for what should be amid the frustration for what is, hope can be distant and nebulous. To be sure, reflection and introspection are vital. But Advent, a season of preparation for Christian communities, requires more. Advent beckons and requires Christians to a hope that does more than wait.
What might an active hope look like in an era characterized by racial, political, and ideological division? How do we foster hope in the devastating wake of COVID-19?
The Mystery meets the self-doubting, hopeless Jeremiah with a “how-to” guide, detailing the process of hope. The Holy uses six verbs back-to-back in this litany of instruction, teaching us that hope is not something a person has, but rather something a person does. To do hope is to root out injustice. To pull down oppressive systems, destroy that which creates inequity, and throw down the idols that blind us to the suffering of creation. Hope is building up the dominion of God even when it is not politically advantageous to take a risk or get involved. Hope is planting the seeds of justice with determination and reckless abandon.
Hope is doing. It is doom and renewal. It is destruction and rebirth.
Advent, a season of hope, is far more than a time for reflection. It is pregnant with the impetus to act. May we choose to live into this season with faithfulness, advocating for the abandoned, the disinherited, and the rejected.
May we do hope.
Kyle Miller-Shawnee
Admissions Officer, Student Senate Member and Master of Divinity Student
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