A Holy Open Place for Everyone
HOPE. Hope is deep,
open, abundant. Hope springs
eternal. Hope is wet.
Three wise women from the East lead us today to drink from
the Wells of Hope. Sylvia Earle, Maren
Tirabassi, Cynthia Bourgeault.
1)“Ocean Hope Spots.”
Oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle (known affectionately as Her
Deepness) has explored and designated over 70 “Ocean Hope Spots,” a global
network of abundant yet threatened marine areas needing attention and
protection. (300 more are awaiting designation.) This pic is from the National Geo film about a
year-long research expedition she took with 40 teen “Aquanauts” to explore and
map those “Hope Spots” with her Mission Blue Alliance https://mission-blue.org/hope-spots/.
Earle insists on acting from hope, not despair. Involving youth in ocean conservation gives
this oldster hope.
2)“Pouring out Hope for Advent:”
“Today we pour water for the first Sunday of Advent, the
Sunday of Hope.
We celebrate the wells of grace
and the gentle rains that bring new growth
and quench our doubts and fears.”
UCC pastor Maren Tirabassi has written an intriguing
alternative liturgy for the four Sundays of Advent, which begins this
week. Following the traditional themes
of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, she suggests pouring water each week rather than
lighting candles. Fire is a tender and
scary symbol here in California these days.
Let’s prepare for Christmas with soothing water, not dangerous fire. “We
bring our hopes to Advent – because we are thirsty for tenderness, and longing
for God’s Spirit to hover over the dryness of our lives.”
3)“Mystical Hope,” is Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault’s fabulous
little book, which affirms that Hope is not an outcome (I hope I get what I
want) or a fix-it strategy. Rather hope
is a deep wellspring pulsing through our very being and the whole of
creation. Hope is subject, not object.
“Hope’s home is at the innermost point in us and in all
things. It is a quality of
aliveness. It does not come at the end,
as the feeling that results from a happy outcome. Rather it lies at the beginning, as a pulse
of truth that sends us forth…Hope fills us with the strength to stay present,
to abide in the flow of Mercy no matter what outer storms assail us.
“As we swim down to deeper waters, toward the wellsprings of
hope, we begin to experience and trust what it means to lay down self….the
hidden spring of mercy and hope is released and flows from that center….Hope
circulates as a lifeblood. It warms, it
fills, it connects, it directs. It is
the heart of our own life and the heart of all lives.”
A colleague is starting a new midweek midday worship service
called H.O.P.E – “A Holy and Open Place for Everyone.”
A Holy Open Place for Everyone - that sounds to me like a
good definition of the ocean, and of hope - Hope Spots, Hope Wells, Hope
Hearts.
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Advent prayers of Hope with all of you, from the Blue
Theology Mission Station. We are booking
youth service trips and adult pilgrimages on Monterey Bay for 2019. We already have groups coming for winter long
weekends and spring break, but still openings in the summer. Bluetheology.com. Last Advent I wrote 4 of these devotionals
about ocean births – you can read them and all my weekly posts by scrolling back here.I will follow Tirabassi’s lead for the next
four weeks and write Blue Theology devotionals about the wellsprings of Hope,
still waters of Peace, party splashing of Joy and womb waters of Love.
