Hope
- maevus
- Nov 19
- 5 min read
November 19, 2025
There are a number of spiritual writers who are inviting us to find hope in this confusing and sometimes dispiriting time.
Hope to buoy us along, to counteract the attacks on our souls that come fast and furious from our screens.
Hope to heal us from the visible evidence of cruel injustices, masked men grabbing and disappearing people, toxic politics and so much more.
Even though hope can anchor our souls, especially in difficult times, I am struggling to write about it. I think that my difficulties come because there are so many definitions of hope.
So, I humbly write this blog using a variety of definitions of hope, those hopeful definitions which most resonate with my own life and spiritual experience.
As a young person I mostly held to the definitions of hope that used "light" metaphors--a ray, a beam, a glimmer of hope; the break in the clouds; the light at the end of a dark tunnel, [1]. But as life has buffeted and blown me around over the past nearly seven decades, I've come to realize that hope is much bigger than these metaphors.
Many writers remind us that hope is different than optimism. Hope requires us to face reality without being decimated by situation(s), while optimism allows us to disregard the truth of situations.
This past summer I participated in the 6-part On Being course on hope. Krista Tippett, the program facilitator invited course participants to develop our “muscles of hope” individually and in community. Her intention was to build our hope so that we would be inspired to remake the world, [2]. In this way hope is an action word, something that is learned with practice, [3].
The series included a podcast and free online journaling booklet, [4] both of which encouraged the building of our "hope muscles" as we faced our grief and despair, used our imaginations, journaled, learned to make careful word choices, and reclaimed joy, all the while recognizing the long game of time.
I enjoyed participating in the On Being Hope Series and am grateful that Tippett and so many wise others are providing opportunities that encourage us towards hope.
That is, the hope that inspires us to make changes in ourselves which can change the world.
However, as Brian McLaren says, “hope is complicated,” [5]. Hope is not always helpful or easy to understand, [6].
McLaren reminds us that hope shouldn’t be tied to a positive outcome. When our hope requires a positive outcome then we’re prone to discouragement if our desired outcome doesn’t transpire, [7].
But conditions that seem hopeless don't have to lead us into despair. Václav Havel, the former Czech president, dissident, and author says that hope in hopeless situations is important. It can give us the strength to live and to continue to try new things, [8].
This type of hope allows us to accept what is, so that we can continue to have a desire to stay alive, be creative and take action, including during the harshest of times.
While writing this blog, I was reminded that hope, and other spiritual practices, including the practices that I’ve previously presented in this blog, even if they have value for our emotional well-being, can numb us to reality.
Brian McLaren describes this numbing as “hope-ium,” a type of hope that pacifies rather than inspires, [9].
"Hope-ium" can prevent us from seeing the goodness, joy, peace and other gifts that are right in front of us. And can avert us from acting in ways that might be helpful to us and the situation.
Sadly, in the most serious of situations, hope can also be used by oppressors to manipulate and render us into compliance to their oppression, [10].
There is so much more that can be said about hope, but I’ve already written much more than I usually do. So I'll stop. Please consider looking at the resources below if you'd like to reflect on hope more deeply.
My hope upon hope from this blog is that you will connect with Holy-Inspired Hope in some fruitful way.
And as you do, may you become a hopeful bearer of light in this sometimes-unbearable time.
Today I am inviting you to two spiritual practices related to hope:
Practice One: Spend some time, (a few minutes, a few hours, all day), looking for small signs of love/hope/kindness. Seek out signs of loving/kind/hopeful action in yourself and others. Look for simple things—compassion in yourself and compassionate connections between people, between people and animals, between people and plants.
Perhaps you'll see people helping one another, gardening, walking their dogs, smiling over a cup of tea. Perhaps a rainbow will come. But my guess is that you'll see much more than I'm offering.
Practice Two: Prayerfully listen to the poem Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light, [11] on the SoundCloud link below. If you want to follow along by reading the words, the blessing is written below the link.
Consider spending time afterwards reflecting on how you have been a bearer of the light in 2025.
Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light
By Jan Richardson
Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes—
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.
Maurice J. Nutt, Trouble Don't Last Always: Toward a Spirituality of Hope in Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color, ed. Sherry Bryant-Johnson, Rosalie Norman-McNaney & Therese Taylor-Stinson (New York, Morehouse Publishing, 2014), 19.
This is the link to the first podcast of the On Being Series: https://onbeing.org/programs/krista-tippett-hope-portal-episode-1/
Maurice J. Nutt, Trouble Don't Last Always: Toward a Spirituality of Hope in Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color, 19.
This is a link to the On Being Journaling Resource: https://onbeing.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Journal-full.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Brian D. McLaren, Life After Doom, Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, St Martin’s Essentials, New York, NY, 2024, 73.
McLaren has an entire chapter on hope in Life After Doom, 73-86. And other authors have written entire books about hope, such as:
a. Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power.
b. Cynthia Bourgeault, Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God.
c. Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times.
Brian D. McLaren, Life After Doom, 77-82.
Ibid, 73.
Ibid, 75.
Ibid, 74-76.
Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons, Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, FL, 2015, 47-48.
This blog is dedicated to the memory of Maureen Fowler, a beloved spiritual mentor.
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