Author: Scott Allman
During this season of Advent, those writing these weekly devotionals have been asked to reflect on the themes of a devotional by A Sanctified Art that is being offered to the congregation.
Here is the link:Words for the Beginning: An Advent Devotional (flippingbook.com)
There is a lot going on with “Hope is Worth the Risk – Fourth Sunday in Advent” and simplification is required. It seems the devotional’s remarks on cynics and scoffers were smuggled in but are not needed. Instead, I would add to this stew the key ingredient of Trust.
Hope, Risk, and Trust combine for the hearty wintertime celebration of Advent. We could look at the ingredients one at a time or start with the end in mind. As we prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of Advent, we’ll do a pinch of both.
Several years ago, my wife Sue and I were responsible for the monthly First Congo Soup Kitchen. My response when asked to take on this responsibility was, “No way!” and “Why? Homeless people are scary.” Sue recognized what was going on. She argued instead that my fear was the perfect reason to do it. Risk was obvious, but where was Hope?
Month after month, on Saturdays we hoped for enough food to make a creative menu and serve fresh food to 150 guests. On Sundays we hoped for volunteers to prepare the meal and serve it. And I hoped, please, no dust-ups for us to referee. We lasted five years until we burned out.
Former MacKenzie lecturer Walter Brueggemann’s comment in the devotional tells us of God’s promise to the ancient Israelites. True enough and an important perspective.
But there is also merit in our daily, vague, and mundane Hope. It is both conscious and unconscious, like breathing. You breathe in and out. You Hope in and out.
I was slow to engage our Soup Kitchen clients. Eventually, I made friends. Doug was about 15 years younger than me. In Plymouth Hall we enjoyed each other’s company, but meeting me on the Pearl Street Mall, he treated me like a stranger. Still, our friendship grew. I invited him to pick from our home garden. But he was not interested in vegetables, only protein.
Too little hope creates despair while too much is a recipe for delusion. What is realistic to believe and hope? In an ideal world, our beliefs and hopes would correspond to our evidence. Our evidence would be bountiful. In the world we live in, however, not so much. Other strategies as well as faith are necessary. To Faith we add in Trust, Hope and Risk.
Hope without Trust is just empty feel-goodness. When Joseph learned of Mary’s surprise pregnancy he trusted the words of the Angel in his dream. Trust became a significant part of Advent version 1.0.
After a few years Doug invited me to see his place, a camp in the National Forest up Boulder Canyon. I informed Sue of my plans in case I might turn up missing. I felt uncertainty in taking this risk.
I took a day off from writing software and met Doug downtown. For a bus ticket he had a coupon. I bought my ticket. Our bus stopped somewhere up Boulder Canyon. Not far from the stop was a vague path up a hillside, through trees, gained a ridge, hopped big rocks, until we came to a small clearing. Doug proudly showed off his large canvas tent. He said it was made for NATO commanders. Inside was a cot and old moving blankets.
In the courtyard were chairs. Pathways were marked off with tree branches. His kitchen was comprised of lunch pails suspended by strings to keep away the squirrels. His risk was not foul weather; rather, every few years Forest Service goons made him move on.
We spent hours together as Doug taught me how to catch a flying stick between two other sticks.
He had been an economist working in Mexico for a large multi-national bank. His life crashed due to crack cocaine. Now he was clean. My offers to give him money or to help him get a job were rebuffed with his honest reply, “When I get money I will go back to the crack.”
God offers hope. But it is you who accepts it or not. That is your responsibility. Hope is a state that you must create within yourself.
On Soup Kitchen Sunday Doug and I would catch up. But I have not seen him this year. He is back in Mexico. His Social Security ship finally came in.
His time in Boulder was for staying warm, hoping, healing, and waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. Today, he trusts himself and his days ahead. His hope was worth the risk.
A Hopeful Advent to all.