Finding Hope Version Two

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us…Hebrews 6:18-19 The Message

What I do, God, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer! Psalm 38:15 The Message

In The Comfort Book* by Matt Haig, he highlights some of his favorite things (with a concentration on hope and inspiration). I like his essay “Somewhere”: he focuses on hope by considering the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow, sung by Judy Garland in the movie The Wizard of Oz (link below to the song). He describes how the song goes up an octave, an “actual musical rainbow”. He continues: “Hope always involves a soaring and a reaching. Hope flies. The thing with feathers, as Emily Dickinson said.” Matt thinks that it’s almost easier to feel hopeful when times are difficult, because hope is one of the things we can cling to. As a Christian, I would add that hope comes when we trust in God's promises. To be hopeful, he finds, you just “need to understand that things will change. Hope is available for us all.” Again, as Christians, we have hope that God is with us through life's challenges until "things change".

Coincidentally, a few weeks after finishing Matt’s book I started reading the novel Finding Dorothy** by Elizabeth Letts. Letts takes on the true story of the author of The Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum, and his wife, Maud. The book moves between 1938 in Hollywood, when the film was made, and the years that Frank and Maud were together (when he wrote his masterpiece). I loved the book and its message of perseverance and hope in the face of adversity (I won’t add any spoilers here: you’ll just need to read the book or research the lives of Frank and Maud Baum!) Incidentally, one of the defining features of the novel is Maud’s determination that the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow was sung just right…with a sense of hopefulness and earnestness. In the book, Maud believes that Judy Garland did it perfectly. If you listen below (and recall the song from the movie), you'll probably agree. 

Somewhere Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz (1/8) Movie CLIP (1939) HD - YouTube

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your promise of hope in you. Thank you for being with us in good times and bad, promising your comfort and spiritual presence that we can rely on. Amen.

Donna Gustafson (reprinted from 2022 Advent...edited to omit the advent portion, including scripture adaptations. Reprinted because of our current sermon series on hope!)

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