New Year, New Hope?
Hello Tablers – and a very warm welcome to the New Year! And, as these matters go, a relatively warm welcome to January and the deep part of winter.
Our culture seems to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the turning of the year. On the one hand, we have the “do over” perspective, complete with new resolve and the plans and dreams that keep it company. On the other, we have short days, long cold nights, a new semester, post-holiday season regrets or debts…and so on.
Of course, those ideas are representative. Life is a mixed bag, right? Some happy, some sad, some striving, some accomplishment, some resolve, some intransigence. For the next few Sundays, I would like us to face into some of those realities as honestly as we can, and I would like us to begin with a consideration of the nature of hope.
Hope, it seems to me, is often misunderstood. It may be uniquely misunderstood in the realm of spirituality, and has some particular pitfalls that seem common to Christian spirituality. Some of us have encountered this dilemma personally. Some of us have had enormous, life-shaking collisions with it, of the kind that make us question life, the universe and everything.
As we engage with the New Year, it seems to me that we should consider hope together. We all need it; the people and the world around us need it. So, in the spirit of exploration that is at the heart of The Table, let’s get together and see if we can find some.
And (I’m quite thrilled about this!), in the month of January EVERY Sunday is a Kid’s Table Sunday. Amy and Anna, together with their helpers, will be leading our young ones in their own explorations each week. What a gift to our community!
And so are you (a gift to our community). So bring your self, your whole self, to our exploration this Sunday. We’ll gather at the usual time and place.
Peace to you,