Sing verse 4
Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though dark the winter and cheerless,
the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless.
Love be our song and love our prayer and love our endless story,
may God fill ev’ry day we share and bring us at last into glory.
In the second reading, St. Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always, I shall say it again, rejoice!” But what is there to rejoice about? In a different letter Paul writes, “In the end there are three things that last: faith, hope and love.” We hear lots about faith and love, but not as much about hope.
Pope Francis said, “Hope allows us to enter into the darkness of an uncertain future . . . to journey in the light.” I like that. Hope gives us a reason to rejoice, not that we have “that thing” figured out, but that we don’t have to. When we are feeling in the middle of a darkness (e.g. that relationship, that financial problem, that stresser at school or work), we are invited not to freak out . . . but to seek a different way.
Sing verse 3
In darkest night his coming shall be, when all the world is despairing,
as morning light so quiet and free, so warm and gentle and caring.
Then shall the mute break forth in song, the lame shall leap in wonder,
the weak be raised above the strong, and weapons be broken asunder.
So think of those “fixer-upper” shows on TV. Sometimes the house, that someone bought is in such bad shape, that the construction has to dig down to the very foundation and start over. That is, they remove the concrete, reinforce the beam, pour new concrete and level the house. Usually it is the ONLY option for restoring the house . . . even though it’s a mess and huge undertaking.
But it’s a lot like us, unfortunately it is NOT until we come to end of our resources do we turn to God. For many of us, it’s only AFTER we tried everything else (and nothing works) then we think, “You know, maybe now I should turn to God.” And that’s OK. God says, “Ok, I’m ready. I got this. I’ve been waiting for you to connect with me.”
And often, in my life . . . it feels like God begins to excavate my very foundation. God takes away my beams of “I can do this” or my hard concrete of shame . . . and begins to strengthen my frame with truth and pours love into my heart. Often God will then levels me with beauty and awakens me to hope . . . hope in God, the Master builder, the Divine Flow, the one who knows and loves me completely.
It’s like getting baptized again with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as John said in the gospel. And this doesn’t happen JUST ONCE. For example, having a huge turn-around in life, then thinking there should be no more problems. No. For me, I keep forgetting and then something awful happens again and I think that I need to fix it myself. Optimism is a feeling, like feeling lucky and having a positive attitude. Hope is more than that. Hope is not a feeling. Hope is a choice.
Hope is choosing to believe, like many of the saints did, that in all the obstacles and set-backs of life . . . God is loving us into a fuller life (as Jesus said in John’s gospel, 10:10)
Hope is waking up and realizing that God’s love for us can fix up any mess, and straighten-out the twists and turns into something wonder . . . usually beyond our wildest expectations or imaginings (Paul’s 1st letter to Corinthians 2:9)
So wake up. Just as God surprised the people 2,000 years ago in sending the Savior, not as a King or Warrior, but instead in the manger among stinking donkeys and sheep. So God might just surprise you in a way that least expect.
Let God transform you . . . accept this invitation for hope by coming to the Eucharist. You are God’s work of art, awaken to what God might lead you to.
Sing verse 1
Awake! awake, and greet the new morn, for angels herald its dawning.
Sing out your joy, for soon he is born, behold! the Child of our longing.
Come as a baby weak and poor, to bring all hearts together,
he opens wide the heav’nly door and lives now inside us for ever.