Let Us Birth a New Hope

January 9, 2022 – Collect

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
Desmond Tutu

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COLLECT

A recap/summary of the week’s prayers and contemplations

TUESDAY
We witnessed how hope is actionable and moves in the story of the Israelites escaping Egypt.

WEDNESDAY
We shared beatitudes of hope to carry through the week, especially on the anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection.  

THURSDAY
We visited a signpost of hope, La Mano del Desierto, in the Atacama Desert in Chile and found that we are not alone in our hope, and that we may just be the hope that others need to see in a desolate world.

FRIDAY
We packed up our Christmas trees, but not our merriment or joy, and we began the practice of anticipating the hope we’ll see in the Christmas season to come.

SATURDAY
We took a review of our week by examining our encounters with the God of hope. 

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PRAXIS  

Whenever you feel anxious or hopeless, start a practice of lighting and keeping a candle burning throughout the day. Let it remind you that there is light in the world and that, just as we are able to ignite a flame, we can also ignite hope. 

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THE LORD’S PRAYER

An excavation of hope inspired from the Lord’s Prayer and Prayer’s from the Cosmos

God of the Cosmos, 
You create all hope. 
Focus your light within. 
Let it be a searchlight 
illuminating the Majesty of Hope. 

Create your reign of unity now.
from this divine union,
Let us birth new hope 
for a new world of peace. 

Help us to hope beyond our ideals.
Let all our hope work together here on Earth 
as it does in the stars, planets and galaxies. 

Produce in us and for us, 
the food we need to grow,
the illumination we need to see,
and the hope we need to sustain us. 

Erase the inner marks our hopelessness makes.
Scrub our hearts of the despair inflicted upon us by others.

But break the hold of despair. 
Don’t let despair delude us. 
Free us from the hopelessness holding us back
from our true purpose. 

From you all hope is born, birthed from perseverance, love, and wonder, 
from age to age it renews and renews. 

Amen.