A Journey Through Advent: Day 2
Day 2
November 30, 2020
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The Transforming Power of Hope
Micah 4:1-5
Rev. Dr. Greg Smith
Following the terrible destruction of Europe in the Second World War, in 1948 the United States transferred $12 billion ($130 billion in today’s dollars) to rebuild cities and restore hope. Our nation rebuilt the cities our military had destroyed. The assistance of the Marshall Plan brought hope to people suffering from the destruction of the war. Great military power became a transforming power, building hope, and peace.
Micah also wrote in a time of great conflict and destruction. The Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, destroying its cities and towns. The Southern Kingdom of Judah, including Jerusalem, was in danger of the same conquest. God’s people had suffered years of division, threat, violence, and destruction. Their hope had been destroyed.
In our time, the events of 2020 have also destroyed hope. Changes in the climate produced a record number of named tropical storms in the south, and record heat and wildfires in the west. The coronavirus pandemic caused us all to radically adjust our lives to protect each other, creating great economic hardship for millions. Racial injustice and economic inequities erupted in protests across the nation not seen in over fifty years. The election even further divided our polarized country.
What personal upheaval have you experienced in the past year? Has the upheaval left you feeling insecure and vulnerable, anxious, and fearful?
Like God’s people of Israel and Judah, we need God’s hope. Following the division and destruction they had suffered, Micah brought a hopeful word from God. He proclaimed a vision of hope and peace when people return to God.
Micah’s words also offer hope to each of us in our own tumultuous days. “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” When we come together to follow the ways of God, we will find hope and know peace. Nothing or no one shall make us afraid.
To Micah, hope looked like weapons of war becoming tools of cultivation. Hope is created when those who have power use that power to enable good.
What does hope look like in your life? What do you have that can be used to bring hope to someone who is suffering? How can you help them turn their suffering into strength, their hurting into hope?
Whether in ancient Palestine, in postwar Europe, or in your life, God’s hope has the power to transform our lives. In these hopeful days of Advent, let us learn of God’s ways that we may walk in God’s paths. We find hope as we are walking.
About a Journey Through Advent
This year is unprecedented in its challenges to our global, national, and local communities, let alone the challenges to our own church community and personal spiritual growth. And yet, the rhythm of the church calendar continues to hold us in a life-giving refrain: hope is alive!
This series of devotional readings, scripture readings, and prayers is designed to give you an opportunity to pause and reflect on the hope, peace, joy, and love that the Advent season brings.
We challenge you to set aside time each day to read, reflect, and pray through these offerings presented by our pastoral staff.
May you find encouragement in the remarkable hope this season provides us!