Hope...

"Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers."  
-Robert Ingersoll

"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."
-Lin Yutang

"Hope is patience with the lamp lit."
-Tertullian

"Hope never abandons you, you abandon it."
-George Weinberg

"God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us in the dreariest and most dreaded moments - can see a possibility of hope."
-Maya Angelou

"Hope is the physician of each misery."
-Irish Proverb

"Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark."
-George Isles

"Lord save us from ...a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms."
-Mark Twain

"Where hope would otherwise become hopeless, it becomes faith." -Robert Brault

"Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops...at all."
-Emily Dickinson

We have ventured from the first week of Advent and now, we embark on this, the second week.   We are filled with a sense of hope; because soon, very soon, we remember with joy and happiness the birth of the King of kings; the Lord of lords and our Savior and Redeemer.

Hope takes on many forms. Hope comes to us in the curious and precocious smile of a child that looks up to us and seeks our wisdom and guidance. Hope comes to us in the gaze of an elderly loved one who needs our steady and sure hand to guide them to safety and surety. Hope comes to us in the stranger seeking direction. Hope comes to us in the visitor to our church doors seeking a place where they can celebrate faith and hope without judgment or question, without hiding their identity; without concealing the beauty of just who they are and how God lovingly created them.  

Hope is, as my favorite American poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, "...that thing with feathers." Feathers, indeed!   But, not limited to--nor exempt from--blood, tears, strength, fear, anticipation, unbridled love, unfettered energy, sweat equity and elbow grease. Hope is what builds a church and hope is what keeps that house of faith alive and growing.

Let's all continue our Advent journey donned with our vestments of "hopeful blue" that will carry us onwards and ever forward. There is much that awaits us and with hope, with ample assistance from "faith" will ever and always lead us to that Promised Land.

-Manny

manny@stnicholasepiscopal.org 

Bishop James Allan, our Nancy Allan's relation: he has taken a turn for the worse and his health is in rapid decline; pray for his peace and comfort and strength and acceptance for his family. 

Shirley Martinez, a friend of our Scott Cummings: she is battling cancer; pray for her health and well being.   

Vivian, sister to our Thelma Malacek, who is battling ovarian cancer: for successful surgery and a full and complete recovery.  Also, Vivian's friend, Peggy, who has been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer: for strength and peace for Peggy and family. 

Linda Buzard, choral director of St. John the Divine in Urbana and a friend of Bob DeHaven, is battling breast cancer: pray for full recovery and sound health.

Marcia Kizior, sister of Bob DeHaven, who is in poor health.

Pamela Joy DeHaven, in thanksgiving for recovery and continued remission.   

Hope Smith, whose cancer has reappeared: for strength, peace and guidance.

For those in transition: those searching for work, those who are moving and those encountering changes in life.