Our second reading today closes with these encouraging words: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." "Abouding in hope" sounds like a good way to be. Are you there? Do you live in hope? Do you consider yourself a hopeful person?

C.S. Lewis considered hope a built-in feature of the human heart--a natural and necessary part of our functioning: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." According to Lewis, you and I arrive with a longing for love and the hope of heven already in place.

For the sake of argument, let's assume Lewis is right. let's assume for the moment that we do have hope, that we live in hope. What are the consequences? What's it like to abound in hope? How shall we live as hope-filled people? The scriptures help us to form an answer. Hopeful people are steadfast, not wishy-washy, not easily shaken. Our second reading from Romans begins with this reminder: "Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." The Bible is full of ordinary, imperfect people, just like you and me--but by the hope they carried in their hearts, they remained steadfast. It's why their story still lives today--because the same hope lives in us. Hopeful people don't give up; they don't give out; they don't give in--they are steadfast. we know Dr. Martin Luther ! King, Jr., was not a perfect man--he had his flaws. But he was steadfast in the worst of times, because hope was so firmly planted in his soul.

Hopeful people are joyful--they delight in the Lord and the simple wonder of being alive. Earlier in the same letter to the Romans, Paul writes: "Let your hope keep you joyful. You've heard it said, "Joy is not the absence of suffering, but the presence of God." So it is. Hopeful people rejoice in the present promises of God and the anticipation of living forever in the presence of God. Christians are meant to be joyful-the way Bears fans will be later today when we beat Green Bay.

Hopeful people are also peaceful. Week after week, we share the peace of God. In part, that peace is a present reality. In part, it is a hope for a fullness of peace still to come. Hope creates for us a sense of stillness and calm and assurance. Hope gives a peace in our hearts like that peace we feel on Christmas Eve, when we're gathered together in worship, and the busy world is hushed, and by candlight we sing, "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright." Hope makes us calm and bright.

Hopeful people live in harmony. There are many causes for division and despair, but hope makes us one. A common vision held the pilgrims together those first hard years in this new land. A shared hope holds families together in times of crisis. Again, Paul writes: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another...so that together you may with one voice glorify God. (That is where the name comes from for our blue hymnal.) Hope helps us to live in harmony-like a good choir--making beautiful music together.

Hopeful people are welcoming--welcoming because hope is a blessing meant for sharing. A friend and I took a semester off from college and travelled around Europe. Most of the time we were on our own, but we had a couple of stays with families. In England, we stayed with the Andrews, a family my father got to know when he was in England during World War II. In Sweden, we stayed with the Aagesons, whose son had been an exchange student at my high school. In both cases, we were like strangers, with no prior personal connection--yet in both cases we were welcomed with overwhelming warmth and hospitality--truly a welcome I will always remember. It was a sweet and lasting blessing. Christians are meant to have such hospitality. Paul says, "Welcome one another, just as Christ has welcomed you." Hope has a welcoming spirit.

Hopeful people are courageous and bold; they are not timid or fainthearted. Writing to the Christians at Corinth, Paul says, "Since we have such a shope, we act with great boldness." Hope empowered the early christians to be daring, even reckless. Like climbers seeking to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, a great hope calls forth acts of great boldness. Hope presses onward and upward. A wise professor at seminary taught me, "The sign of hope is the capacity to rise to any occasion." We see such signs of hope in a devoted mother who will rise to do whatever needs to be done for the sake of her children. Mothers have brave and high hopes. Hope can be very bold.

Hopeful people have the confidence to admit their shortcomings. John the Baptist was a rather strange Apostle of Hope-a voice crying in the wilderness. But many found encouragement in John's preaching, and were stirred to hope by the promise of a coming Savior. They came out in great numbers to be baptized by John in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Confessions is by its very nature a hopeful act, for why confess anything unless you have the hope of forgiveness? Hope keeps us honest.

Hopeful people live abundantly, as Christ calls us all to live. We abound in hope. Abundant life consists not in things or possessions, but in relationships and in the life of the Spirit. To give an account of the hope that is in you is to give instances of your life where you are steadfast, joyful and peaceful. To explain your hope is to point to ways in which you are ablve to live in harmony, and to welcome others to share that same blessing. it is to lift up examples, however small or mundane, of ways that you have found strength to rise to meet what the occasion demanded-acting with confidence and courage. It is to be honest about who you are, and equally honest about your need for a God who loves you as you are--the God who forgives us and makes us more than we thought we could be. We don't call this bragging; we call it encouraging. Sharing our hope is one of th best things we can do!

Having said all this, let me close by saying that hope is not as much about doing as seeing. In this Advent season of hope, the emphasis is not on what we are to do, but rather a vision of what God is doing. Our first task is not to "get busy," but to "pay attention"; pay attention to what God is up to within us and around us. Advent speaks of a reality beyond our present reality, the time when God finally gets his way with this weary world. Wolves and lambs, calves and lions get together and no one has lunch. Vision and imagination are required of us. And patience, too; lots of patience. Next week, we'll talk about hope and patience.

Amen.