Advent 1: Hope – Eyes for the New Creation
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth …”
Scripture reading: Isaiah 65: 17-19
Meditation
Advent heralds the “arrival” or “coming” of Christ – the very word comes from the Latin word for “arrival” or “to come.” For Christians, this season overflows with prophecy, poetry, and songs of joy. It overflows with hope. Yet, what looks like hope to some may appear like pie-in-the-sky optimism to others.
“The poem is outrageous. The new world of God is beyond our capacity and even beyond our imagination. It does not seem possible. In our fatigue, our self-sufficiency, and our cynicism, we deeply believe that such promises could not happen here. Such newness is only poetic fantasy. In Advent however we receive the power of God that lies beyond us. This power is the antidote to our fatigue and cynicism. It is the gospel resolution to our spent self-sufficiency when we are at the edge of our coping. It is the good news that will overcome our cynicism that imagines there is no new thing that can enter our world.”
~ Walter Brueggemann
As global poverty, malnutrition, and conflict claim millions of lives every year, you and I can justifiably feel helpless. What we have is too little, and the world’s problems too big. How can we possibly make a difference? Hope seems foolish. But in Advent, the poetry and vision of God points to a new creation made, not by people who are defined by what little they have, but by the abundance of God. The abundance of God is even enough to create health for all people, when we dare to see ourselves as neighbors with God-given responsibility to become a part of creating that new world, where God’s abundance is freely shared among neighbors.
Prayer
Lord, help us to see beyond our disbelief. Open our eyes to your abundance and your work this Christmas to bring about a new creation. Open our eyes to opportunities to love our neighbors, like you. Amen.
GHM Partner Story –El Salvador
“My name is Maria Esperanza, and I live in Santa Ana, El Salvador. I have been a promoter in my community since the destructive hurricane of 2008. It was then, after seeing all the destruction and injured people, that I decided to be a promoter, and began attending the training programs given by Pastor Conchi.”
We give thanks for Maria, one of more than 200 community health promoters across El Salvador supported by her church and GHM, who saw her community in need, and whose eyes were opened to what she could do to help her neighbors. Maria brings health education, first aid, and care to her community. One special focus for her is the importance of nutrition and the best foods to prevent diabetes, a condition that affects many people in Santa Ana. Her name, Esperanza, is the Spanish word for “hope.”
“You have made us feel that we are now brothers and sisters in the same healing mission, and that we are unified as one people. We feel your love for us”.