Global Christian Worship

For the first week of Advent, this post has thoughts on hope (from a Czech statesman), a litany for not losing hope (from a Texas worship leader), and a wonderful painting titled ‘Hope Rising from Australia.

HOPE IS DEFINITELY NOT THE SAME THING AS OPTIMISM

Father Philip Chircop writes,

One can’t be in Prague and not hear the name Václav Havel mentioned at some point. He was a Czech writer, philosopher, political dissident, and statesman. From 1989 to 1992, he served as the last president of Czechoslovakia. He then served as the first president of the Czech Republic after the Czech–Slovak split.

To me, the name is always associated with a quotation on hope I first learnt in my early days of theological studies. It never left me, and still tickles my soul, often. Here it is for your own reflection:

“Either we have hope within us or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not dependent on some observation of the world. Hope is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond the horizons.

Hope in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism.

It is not the conviction, that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. It is Hope, above all, which gives the strength to live and continually try new things.”

Vaclav Havel in Disturbing the Peace, chapter 5 (1986; tr. 1990).

Thanks to Fr. Philip Chircop for bringing this quote and meme below to my attention. All the text above is reposted from his blog post at
http://www.philipchircop.com/post/151039186357/hope-is-definitely-not-the-same-thing-as-optimism

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Fran Pratt wrote this powerful ‘Litany for Not Losing Hope’ and first published it online at her blog, at
http://www.franpratt.com/litanies/2016/10/10/litany-for-not-losing-hope

It’s based on the lectionary reading for October 16 - Luke 18:1-8 - a parable about our “need to pray always and not to lose heart.”

God, our faithful Friend: we know that you are not like the unjust judge in the parable.
You are just and merciful and compassionate,
We often find it difficult to hold suffering in our minds alongside hope.
Our hearts are often fragile and our minds forgetful.

Help us to be ok with expressing a full range of emotions:
Lament and joy
Anger and affection
Gratitude and disgust
Excitement and sadness
Doubt and empathy.

Help us to be disciplined, grounded in practices that bring us life
Prayer
Meditation
Fasting
Sabbath-rest
Worship

May the fruit of our practice be a river of hope
That flows beneath all we do
Into which we may refresh ourselves
Whenever we grow weary.

And help us to be as persistent as the widow
Not losing hope
Praying without ceasing
Seeking and working for justice.

Amen

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Sarah Rowan Dahl is an amazing Christian artist in Australia. She does quite a few things, including public “performance painting events.’ Here what she did to create a painting titled ‘Hope Rising’ for the Salvation Army - the completed painting is below the video. Sarah wrote, “It has a lot of symbolism and meaning, so I thought I would share it via a video.”

Sarah has created a great deal of beautiful art; see her website at
http://www.sarahrowandahl.com/

She sells her work through Society6 so it’s easy to purchase around the world. She is very prolific; her store has items in 3 dozen categories! I don’t mean 3 dozen items, I mean 3 dozen categories! I’ve happily purchased a number of items from her; see her online shop at
https://society6.com/sarahrowandahl?curator=mattviglink