A few months ago I was in Washington, D.C., with my wife and friends. We had a free morning so we visited the Museum of African American History and Culture. It’s a wonderful museum that tells the story of pain and loss alongside perseverance and progress.
There were points when I was uncomfortable. Which is a sign that I am learning something. At one particularly awkward point I noticed a small plaque with a quote from James Baldwin:
“Hope is invented every day.”
The quote wasn’t new to me, but it struck home in a moment of vulnerability.
Later, having digested the experience, I used the quote as a chapter title in Junkyard Wisdom Advent. Advent is all about hope so it seemed fitting.
You can’t be fully present for Advent if you are not focused on hope. Hope is an antidote for fear, and sadly we spend too much time in a state of fear. It drives our anger, decisions, and sense of justice. It can make us less than human as we allow fear to overcome compassion.
Each day of Advent is a struggle between hope and fear. The daily devotions in my book swing between the two as the Christmas story unfolds. We travel with Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, as they continue to overcome fear with hope. Concluding, of course, with the birth of the true Hope.
The idea of inventing hope is intriguing. There are all kinds of ways to invent hope. Acting on a good idea, planting a tree, laughing with a friend, loving our neighbor. The list is endless.
Bad stuff happens, of course. When it does, our hopes get a bit rusty and battered, like in a junkyard.
But the very idea of hope is a subversive power for good.
We have a responsibility to create hope as an antidote to fear. Let’s invent some.