Day Thirty Three - Rest in Hope *** A Bonus Reflection ***

Yesterday, was supposed to be the first day of freedom from our national lock-down – hopes spectacularly dashed now with the Tier restrictions! Our hope of release from curtailment of liberty rests on a falling ‘R’-rate and that the vaccine will prove as good as it sounds. Not everyone agrees that the infringement of liberty or indeed taking the vaccine are healthy options. As John Lydgate said “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

The period of waiting for a promise to materialize, which we celebrate in Advent, is a good time to consider what Hope and Freedom can mean. Pause.

‘Finding Freedom’ has been in the news recently, the title of the book about Harry and Megan hoping for a better family life by choosing to leave behind the confines of duties within the Royal Family. We have all, I suspect, at some point, wished for a change but the saying ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ is one way of expressing the false hopes daydreams can engender; believing that our dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs can be transformed simply by idealizing a different scenario is not what hope is. The strange visions of the Biblical figures such as Daniel, Ezekiel and Isaiah are however, an example of the way God can speak into very difficult times through dreams. The Holy Spirit, according to the prophet Joel, would ignite our dreams encouraging us to believe in the ability of God to deliver on His promises – that is the Christian Hope.

Long-in-fulfilment the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey to the Hebrew people could easily have been forgotten living in bondage in Egypt. Similarly, maybe our hopes for a personal break-through, or progress on a local church/community project may have taken a buffeting and we are discouraged and we ask ‘How Long Lord?’ Or maybe desired change has been so rapid and successful that it means we are exhausted and frustrated by the lack of freedom to pursue other things. Freedom for all is a key component of the Advent fulfilment in Christ of the promise in Isaiah ‘To set free the oppressed’.

When the Israelites were released from the captivity of Egypt they were ‘freed from’ ‘to’ something else. Freedom to be God’s people did not happen overnight. In fact, it took many decades of preparation in the wilderness experiencing many things not all of which felt good at the time. And yet, during this period of wondering what was going on, God was transforming the minds of His people into being able to make decisions based on their trusting relationship with Him rather than as slaves. During this 2020 enforced confinement people are dreaming how, with their future freedom, their re-evaluated lives will take shape. You don’t need to look much further for a good example of dreaming in hope, whilst locked-up, than Nelson Mandela.

In Psalm 16:7 David writes: "I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons." I like the implication that enforced limitations or ‘reins’ can have beneficial effects. David goes on to say “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in HOPE.” The hopes and dreams of all the world, in whatever age, are met in the Advent of the Lord Jesus the Christ.

Elisabeth Sweeney Smith