"Voices of Hope in the Unexpected"
Fr. George Wertin
Sunday, December 7th, 2003

Advent is off to a good start. I got my Advent calendar on time from my cousin Jane in California. It’s one of the old-fashioned German kind with lots of glitter that comes off easily. Jane’s Mother, my Auntie Do, used to send me my Advent calendar, and Jane carries on the tradition. The weather is perfect Advent weather: gray, dreary and fairly mild - suitable for an evening walk looking up at the sky.

There is also incredible grayness in the world:

We need a new portion of hope. Studs Terkel, one of my favorite American icons has just published a new book at the age of 91. Amazingly his new book is on hope. It is entitled “Hope Dies Last” and takes its title from a comment made by a Chicana farm worker he was interviewing. He interviews some well-known people, including our friend Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, and some whose names no one would recognize. But all the stories point out that the more desperate the situation is, the stronger the hope.

Hope means recognizing we can’t be locked into a particular outcome. Hope means we must be open to change and surprises. Yes, it means recognizing that God’s Spirit is very much working yet in the world. As Studs Terkel says, “People can surprise you.” And as parishioner Judy Griep always reminds me: HOPE stands for ‘having other possibilities exist.’

Let me retell a story I told you a few months ago: It seems that there was a frog in a swamp sitting on a lily pad surrounded by alligators! He said to himself, “If only I could hop far enough to get to the next lily pad.” Well, there was a wise old owl in a tree over head, and he said, “Why don’t you fly?” So the frog took a running start, jumped, flapped his legs vigorously - and came down right in the middle of the alligators! As he thrashed about he looked up at the owl and said, “Stupid owl. Frogs can’t fly.” “Well,” the owl replied, “that’s a matter of implementation. I just deal in concepts!”

Advent is about implementation. It’s about listening to the message of Jesus - again. It’s about putting our ear to the ground and listening to the sounds around us, i.e. listening to our culture. It’s about transforming this world and developing a new paradigm of Christian living. It’s about finding the divine in the human.

I always cherish that wonderful insight of Meister Eckhart (1260-1328). He said:

The outward work can never be small
If the inward one is great,
And the outward work can never be great or good
If the inward is small or of little worth.

In a society that is consumed with busyness, I discern a yearning for spirituality, which is simply the contemporary term for “the inward work.” I see people who are searching to fill ‘the God-sized hole’ in their lives. I see many people who are reaching within to be centered in the Spirit of God. I see people who are committed to meditation, Scripture reading, communing with nature and immersion in the arts. And I see people who are passionate in their activism to make a difference in this weary war-torn world. Meister Eckhart offers us an invitation to BALANCE in our lives. And that’s what Advent does: it offers us an invitation to seek balance in this early winter time of preparation for Christmas.

There are signs of hope in our world. There was the collapse of communism and the Cold war. There was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. There was the end of Apartheid in South Africa and the convening of the Reconciliation Commission. There are people who have left the world of corporate greed for more meaningful work. There are individuals who have changed their lifestyles and found new health. Etc. etc. etc.

Here at St. Joan of Arc our motto attracts many. People appreciate the acceptance in those powerful words: ‘We welcome you wherever you are on your journey.’ But, you know what? That’s not enough. We also have to extend the invitation and say, ‘We invite you to join us on our journey.’ It is a journey based on an intense commitment to peace, nonviolence, justice and inclusivity. It says we can make a difference, because we must make a difference. It is a journey that looks toward the future, not with cynicism and discouragement, but with hope. Hope makes activists out of us. Hope offers us a common vision of what can be.

Advent is about waiting. It’s about wonder. It’s about watching. Hope casts a penetrating light into the darkness. Hope looks toward the future. Hope dies last.

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