The Advent season is upon us and this week's theme is hope. Hope is something that we wish for that is not entirely within our means. I believe children generally are more hopeful than adults - hopeful for the presents they will get on Christmas, hopeful for an unexpected snow day, hopeful for their future.
Often we adults have too many resources to need hope - we get what we need - or want. But as adults there are things beyond our personal means - a hope for world peace, sufficient food and clean water for all, and to save the whales. I threw that last bit in since the world DID come together with a whaling ban, and several species of whale are fully recovered since 1986. The hopes for prevention, cures, or disease management for smallpox, measles, whooping cough, AIDS, yellow fever, polio, rabies, and most recently cystic fibrosis have been realized.
Hope big, dream big, and pray big. Give to medical research. Make a meal or donate to the homeless. You may be the answer to another person's hopes and dreams.
In the body of Christ with you,
Pastor Curtis