Hope in God's Unfolding Plan

[00:00:08] Hello, Collective Table podcast, and welcome to Advent, where we are taking a look at hope. [00:00:16] The scripture for today is Galatians 4:4. But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law. [00:00:28] I don't know about you, but in my 53 years of living, I have noticed that hope requires patience. There's no more significant symbol of hope and waiting than the expectation of a new baby. Will the child be healthy? When will she come? Will they be born on an odd or an even day? Will he have his daddy's nose? It's so hard not to see the whole picture. [00:00:56] Sometimes we allow our anxieties to overtake us as we wait for the new thing coming our way. It steals away the hope that we might have because we worry and wring our hands. But sometimes, if you can hear it, hope calls out to you and invites you to throw all your eggs in the trust basket, to believe in the unseen, to find where God is working in the mystery of the unknowing. I can hear a few of you saying, but I've been hurt and disappointed before, and hoping is too painful. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner who worked for Peace and Justice and remembrance of the Holocaust, said this. Just as man cannot live without dreams, he cannot live without hope. If dreams reflect the past, hope summons the future. [00:01:56] I don't know about you, but if Elie Wiesel, who lost most of his family and suffered in a concentration camp, can say these words, I think I can also believe that there can be hope even in dark places. [00:02:15] For our practice today, I thought it might be nice for you to write down one or two things that makes you feel hopeful. [00:02:23] Fold that piece of paper up and put it in your pocket. When you're feeling like there isn't a lot of hope, put your hand in your pocket and remember that hope is at hand. [00:02:37] Will you pray with me? Mother of Patience, thank you for your perfect timing. [00:02:45] When we grow impatient or discouraged in waiting, when hope feels like a dream, an untangible thing to grab onto, Mother, will you remind us that you are always at work? [00:03:02] You are always unfolding a vision? Help us hold on to hope. [00:03:08] Amen.