Hope or Keep on Keeping On

Monday, January 6, 2025

Happy Monday and Happy New Year, my friends! I haven’t heard one way or another, but I wonder if less people made new year resolutions this year. Resolutions are hopeful intentions. We are stating some goal or action which we hope to take in the coming year. As 2024 came to an end on New Year’s Eve, one of my friends asked the question: “What was the best part of 2024 for you?” Silence filled the room. The small group of progressive activists and advocates, me included, struggled to find moments of joy that could rise to the level of “best” during what was for us a pretty terrible year. In time we realized that degrees had been earned, a book accepted for publication, personal goals conquered, and smaller, less obvious joy had occurred. None of us wanted entertain the associated question: What are you hopeful for in 2025?

Too many of us are feeling not just a lack of hope, but a paralyzing hopelessness. The theologian Karen Baker-Fletcher writes that “Being oppressed is not the same as being dead. Love, faith, and hope are also present…Hope is when you wake up in the morning, set both feet on the ground, stand up, and keep on keeping on.”[1] Recently, I’ve been trying to live into that kind of hope. Sure, it might not seem very hopeful to some people like when asked how you’re doing, you respond, “I’m here, I’m alive, and I’m still moving forward.” Nothing in that statement is hopeless. In fact, most of us know that we will get through because we’ve gotten through other challenges and because people like us have gotten through worse.

Friends, as we live into the early uncertain days of 2025, remember that waking up, getting out of bed, and showing up are all acts of hope. What other ways are you experiencing hope?

Let us pray: Dear God, we know that hope is practiced in the simple action of “keeping on keeping on.” Help us to recognize all the hope that surrounds us even in times when we are oppressed and marginalized. Set hope in our lives along with your grace. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben

[1] Karen Baker-Fletcher, Sisters of Dust, Sisters of Spirit (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), p. 38.

Living with Open Hearts

January 5, 2025

The Rev. Brandan Robertson (he/him)

Author and Public Theologian

Queer Christian

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Living with Open Hearts

One of the cornerstones of my faith is the humble acknowledgment that human beings simply cannot fully comprehend God. While this might not seem revolutionary, theologians and mystics from the earliest days of Christianity have affirmed that God exists beyond our mental reach. Faith, then, is rooted in what I call “hopeful agnosticism.” It is hopeful because, as Christians, we believe we have experienced God through the Holy Spirit and in the life of Jesus, bringing hope to our souls. It is agnostic because, if we’re honest, everything we know about God is ultimately our best human effort to understand the Creator of all things. Being finite and fallible, we must humbly admit that we know very little with certainty.

When we adopt a hopeful agnosticism, we are invited into a life of faith—believing in God’s goodness while surrendering our need to understand everything about God or how God works. In today’s scripture, the author of Proverbs encourages us to trust in God. Trust implies taking a leap of faith, believing that God is at work, even when we can't see it. We are advised not to rely on our own understanding, acknowledging that our perspectives are limited and may sometimes be incorrect. By acknowledging God’s presence in all areas of our lives, we trust that our paths will be made straight.

This is the essence of faith in two short verses: When we surrender our need to figure everything out and trust in the God we’ve encountered in Jesus, we’re promised that the Spirit will guide us through life’s winding road. In my experience, this has proven true. When I try to control or fully understand God’s ways, I often end up burnt out. But when I surrender and say, “Not my will, but yours be done,” the Spirit leads me to new places I could never have imagined. As you go about your day, I invite you to stop trying to figure everything out. Embrace the freedom of surrendering to God’s goodness and grace, and watch how the Spirit works, guiding you moment by moment.

Reflection

What is an area where you feel like you have “figured out” God? Reflect on why you believe this and consider the limits of that belief.

Where in your life do you need to surrender and trust in God’s goodness?

Call to Action

Today, practice “hopeful agnosticism,” even if it’s not your usual posture of faith. Look for God to appear in unexpected people and places and take note of what you discover.

Light or Where it All Starts

January 1, 2025

The Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp (he/they)

Executive Director, LOVEboldly

Queer Christian

Light or Where It All Starts

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

Since the very first morning on the very first day of humanity, when our most ancient ancestors took the initial evolutionary step toward what would become human civilization, light has been a common and important theme in our lives. Light is often symbolic of revelation and epiphany. Jesus is called the light of the world. Paul was struck by blinding light at his conversion. Fires, stars, candles, lamps, and other images related to light or conveying light appear often throughout the Bible. 

While light has not always been easy to find and maintain, light is so prevalent in contemporary life that we now have branches of science and medicine dedicated to understanding it, making it better for us, and measuring its impact on our lives. Though the screen in front of me is not meant to be a light source, it nevertheless gives off more light than either of the lamps behind it on my desk. The lights in our lives often hide the world around us. People in cities and large towns know that we only see some of the stars. So many of those stars, themselves sources of light, are hidden by terrestrial lights so much closer to us.

Reflection

What are the light sources most often in your life?

Where can you look beyond the artificial light and see natural light?

Action

Get away from cities and towns. Spend a few hours at night looking at the stars in a remote space.