Hope embodied

Leading a village Carol Service this morning

So may we know the hope
that is not just for someday
but for this day— here, now,
in this moment that opens to us: hope not made of wishes
but of substance, hope made of sinew and muscle
and bone,
hope that has breath and a beating heart, hope that will not keep quiet
and be polite,
hope that knows how to shout
when it is called for, hope that knows how to sing
when there seems little cause,
hope that raises us from the dead— not someday
but this day,
every day,
again and
again and
again.
—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow