We begin today our movement towards the incarnation of Christ and the celebration of Christ-mass. Today, is the Sunday of Hope as we look to our future hope in God's incarnation as part of humanity. Hope is something that is needed at the beginning of a new liturgical year both in terms of our personal lives and those of the community in which we serve. Perhaps the hope that is the essence of Isaiah's vision is something that should inspire us as we move forward in this period (Is. 2:1-5). Isaiah's dream or prophesy seems so unworldly in a world that is often filled with despair. Swords into ploughshares or in today's terms perhaps guns into harvesters. Perhaps, a slightly more literal interpretation as each harvest death one for the benefit of the community and one to the detriment of society. This hope that is instilled within the words of Isaiah appear not to have become reality in the fulness of time but rather a lost vision that appears unattainable.
Today, we seem more and more to be in align with Christ's message to the disciples in Matthew (24:36-54). The world appears to be heading towards calamitous situations which have no hope contained in them. All we hear about within the daily news cycle is the parlous state of the world. All we are really concerned about is the next war, famine, flood or other catastrophe. There is or appears to be no hope within the secular world despite anything we attempt to undertake or do to relieve the various crises. It is irrespective of whether we are a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or any other denomination / religion / philosophy. Indeed the nihilist turn is perhaps closer to where we appear to be then any eschatological hope that we are meant to embrace. So how are we meant to react to the despair that is around us to find hope in the everyday? In this Advent season as we begin our journey to the ultimate hope that is seen in the incarnation what can we undertake so that we can impart the joy and love that is in God's presence in our lives to those who live around us?
In our lead up to the beginning of the year we have been looking closely at our faith journey and in centring our foundation upon our faith journey we begin to find our hope in the year to come. Paul in his letter to the Romans is quite clear with regards what we must do (13:14). Our despair and lack of hope ultimately comes from our failure to put on Christ, that is not to say that we have not accepted Christ in our lives. It applies to all whether they have accepted Christ or not, it is the conscious putting on Christ that is living as Christ himself lived without striving for our own benefit. Christ did not look to glorify himself but rather to reach out to the other. We on the other hand over the ages have without doubt put on the mind of greed and grasping for power along with our own self needs. This is not what it means to be a Christian and it is what garners despair rather than hope in the lives of those in our communities. It can do nothing else as it is centred on the gratification of ourselves rather than those around us. Despair enters our hearts because we can no longer be satisfied ever striving for the ultimate goal of the self. A goal that truly is but a phantasm of our own minds.
True hope comes when we interact with God and find ourselves emulating Christ to such an extent that we begin to see the world around us as Christ saw his world. It is when we begin to be as Christ that we begin to have a hope that is surpassing everything else that we can believe in. The smallest set back sets us racing towards despair unless we are truly embedded in the understanding that Christ opened his arms on the cross for all. Not just all of us but all. This is an important distinction for otherwise we fall into despair. Our lives must reach out to all not just the favoured few but even those we consciously and unconsciously despise. In doing this we truly put Christ on as Paul suggests and eventually begin to realise the hope of God's love in our lives. Yes, we often fall into despair but when we begin to look to the other we begin once more to see the hope of the world for peace and the fulfilment of Isaiah's vision. Once this takes hold we will once more begin to see the world as the paradise it is meant to be beyond our individual wants.
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