DAILY DEVOTIONAL on Hope: Dec 4 – Active Hope

December 4: Active Hope

• Scripture: Hebrews 6:19-20 –– We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain  where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered …
• Meditation: We are partners in the work of cultivating human hope, yet God goes before us, and in the incarnation of Christ, has experienced virtually every mortal moment. Holy Love knows what we are facing, and stands with us, and enables us to tackle what must be faced and managed. We are capable of acknowledging the situation around us, accepting its reality, and then beginning to find the resources and relationships that will create greater agency, choice, and mobility in the face of challenges. This is never a promise that we get the easy way through, only that hope abides with us, and within us, even in the most difficult circumstances. Part of our strength comes from being connected to a wellspring of resilience and possibility that is larger than ourselves, abundant and overflowing, and available when we need to turn to such a reservoir of hope.
• Spiritual Practice: Yesterday you focused on others who need encouragement. Now identify an area in your life where you need support and hope. Pray for guidance on how to move forward.

SONGS:

• Hope by Fearless Soul: https://youtu.be/7xWAYdzhmeI?si=3vWRZZz49fQRf_vP
• Living Hope by Phil Wickham: https://youtu.be/u-1fwZtKJSM?si=osJKVQzZzUJTXxcC

• BLESSING OF HOPE — Jan RichardsonSo may we know
  the hope
  that is not just
  for someday
  but for this day—
  here, now,
  in this moment
  that opens to us:

  hope not made
  of wishes
  but of substance,

  hope made of sinew
  and muscle
  and bone,

  hope that has breath
  and a beating heart,

  hope that will not
  keep quiet
  and be polite,

  hope that knows
  how to holler
  when it is called for,

  hope that knows
  how to sing
  when there seems
  little cause,

  hope that raises us
  from the dead—

  not someday
  but this day,
  every day,
  again and
  again and