Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
—Revelation 21.1
Then you will see and be radiant.
— Isaiah 60.5
I enter this new year with hope.
Yes, there is reason to be discouraged.
Of course we wish for the overthrow
of evil, greed and violence.
But our hope is not wishing:
hope is confidence
that God’s future is already present.
The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness can’t overcome it.
The spirt of love can’t be snuffed out
by politicians and their hubris;
the life force can’t be stopped
by corporations and their kept legislators.
God is alive and at work in this world.
Smart, thoughtful, compassionate, courageous people
are rising up, find ing their voice, taking their place.
We have seen tyranny and cruelty before,
but we will never see the darkness win out.
Love always has more to say.
God is creating, always creating, and if we look
we will see signs of it all around us,
and its light will fill us and we will be radiant,
ourselves signs of the very hope that sustains us.
Yes, I have hope—joy and delight, even—
for God is here, and God’s world is still becoming.
—January 2, 2018