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HOPE
Reading: Hope by Maria Shriver
To keep going you must have hope.
All of us have those days when we feel as though we can’t go forward and can’t go backward. We’re just stuck.
When I feel that way, I reach into my back pocket and take out some hope.
That’s right, I’ve always had hope. Hope that it would get better, hope that there was something wonderful around the corner, hope for my children, hope for my friends, hope for the world, and yes, hope for me. I just have to remember to pull it out.
So sometimes when I can’t catch my breath, I close my eyes and imagine myself out in what I call The Open Field. For me, the Open Field is a place of joy and laughter and community. It’s a place where purpose driven people gather to dream and collaborate and make their lives and their world better. It’s a place of hope.
Right now, The Open Field is just an idea, but I’m hopeful that it won’t always exist only in my own imagination. I hope we can find that common ground --- a real place where we come together, where people of different generations and different belief systems coexist, care for one another, and care for our common home.
I keep hoping, and my hope keeps me going. Going forward with home gives my life meaning.
When all else seems to fail, when you can’t think of one more thing or do one more thing, when the solution seems to be escaping you – reach into your own back pocket. Pull out some hope. And with hope in your heart, move forward into your own Open Field.
Song: Choose Hope by Marty Haugen
https://youtu.be/bOQJUbu9_wQ?si=74SZ3xLbfQr_NIYK
An Incredible Hope
By John van de Larr
(adapted by Dennis McDonald)
We imagine a world where peace and justice
Are the ordinary realities of life;
We dream of a planet where giving and sharing
Are second nature to all people;
We envision an earth where joy and celebration
Fill the news and our lives;
It may seem like a delusion,
But we have an incredible hope!
We hope in the One who came
and proclaimed such a world,
and who gave his life for it;
We hope in the One who is always among us
Surprising us with the presence,
And the restoring work of the Holy One;
We hope in the One who comes
In every age, to every generation,
Until this dream has come true.
We have incredible hope, O Holy One,
And we praise you for it! Amen.
Intentions: The Seed of a New Year by Joyce Rupp
Seed of Restoration, reach into the layers of my past year. Bring into view the positive gifts that I missed due to clouded expectations and unwanted experiences. Soften the inner places that have been hardened by hurt. Warm the cold ground of dormant hope.
Seed of Curiosity, widen my vision of how life is to be received. Keep me open to what the hidden confines of my soul have yet to reveal. Nudge me to be inquisitive, to be ready for the surprises that awaken the wisdom waiting within me.
Seed of Insight, expand my ideas and thoughts so the lessons of your love keep influencing the way I think and act. Visit me with unexpected turns of understanding and perception. Urge me to be transformed into an ever more gracious and caring person.
Seed of Equanimity, disperse anxious remnants of fear and concern. Strengthen me to free them from my tight grasp. Like a seed planted in the soil, encourage my surrender into your abiding presence. When I wait with uncertainty, draw your enduring tranquility into my heart.
Seed of Happiness, enter the gray spaces in which I lose sight of joy. Awaken enthusiasm. Loosen whatever restrains my spirit from life-giving energy. Release gloom when it wraps around me. Let it slide off like the shell of a seed giving way to a greening shoot.
Seed of Unity, touch my heart to the suffering of others through each kind thought and caring deed. Let compassion spread like droplets of rain seeping into the soil of humanity. Thank you for your life resonating in the heartbeat of our co-existence on planet Earth. May there be peace.
Please offer any intentions you may have for the community to hold in prayer.
Closing Prayer: Excerpt from New Year by Michael Morwood
“As we celebrate another new beginning, we bring to mind our hopes, our dreams of what could be in our own lives and in the life of the world.
We hold fast to Jesus’ hope and his willingness to trust the “good news” he proclaimed for all people.
We profess our solidarity with his preaching about the urgent need to establish a new order characterized by justice for all.
We all to mind his challenge for us to be light; a light to those who live in darkness whatever its form; to be light for our families, our friends and our world.
May our commitment bless our own lives and be a blessing for all we meet this coming year.” Amen.
Closing Song: When You Believe byOne Voice Children’s Choir
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