Advent Day 32: Our Hope

Hand of God, Yongsung Kim. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Havenlight.

“Christ Our Hope in Life and Death” performed by Matt Papa and Kristyn Getty, composed by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, and Matt Papa.

Poetry:

from Richard III
by William Shakespeare

CLARENCE
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower
And was embarked to cross to Burgundy,
And in my company my brother Gloucester,
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches. Thence we looked toward England
And cited up a thousand heavy times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster,
That had befall’n us. As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloucester stumbled, and in falling
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears,
What sights of ugly death within my eyes.
Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks,
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon,
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.
Some lay in dead men’s skulls, and in the holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept—
As ’twere in scorn of eyes—reflecting gems,
That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep
And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by.
KEEPER
Had you such leisure in the time of death
To gaze upon these secrets of the deep?
CLARENCE
Methought I had, and often did I strive
To yield the ghost, but still the envious flood
Stopped in my soul and would not let it forth
To find the empty, vast, and wand’ring air,
But smothered it within my panting bulk,
Who almost burst to belch it in the sea.
KEEPER
Awaked you not in this sore agony?
CLARENCE
No, no, my dream was lengthened after life.
O, then began the tempest to my soul.
I passed, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that sour ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
The first that there did greet my stranger-soul
Was my great father-in-law, renownèd Warwick,
Who spake aloud “What scourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?”
And so he vanished. Then came wand’ring by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood, and he shrieked out aloud
“Clarence is come—false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,
That stabbed me in the field by Tewkesbury.
Seize on him, furies. Take him unto torment.”
With that, methoughts, a legion of foul fiends
Environed me and howlèd in mine ears
Such hideous cries that with the very noise
I trembling waked, and for a season after
Could not believe but that I was in hell,
Such terrible impression made my dream.

Christ, Our Hope in Life and Death

O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears,
What sights of ugly death within my eyes.

So says Clarence of his recent dream in Shakespeare’s play Richard III, painting with dreadful accuracy the horror of death.

In the play, Clarence doesn’t know that his dream is prophetic—he is about to die, by treachery and by drowning. The terrifying dream scenario he woke from is only a shadow of the real terror that awaits him.

What hope do we have, if the worst fears of our nightmares are actually things that might come true?

This. We have this, and it is our hope and our salvation:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Blessed be God! Blessed be God who has not left us alone, drowning and without hope!

We are Clarence. We indeed “have done all this evil” (1 Samuel 12:20 ESV). But, just as we see in Yongsung Kim’s beautiful painting, we can look up from under the surface of the lake of the sins we are drowning in and see the most beautiful sight in the world: Jesus, our Lord and brother, our King and Shepherd, standing above us, looking down at us, and offering us a hand of rescue.

More than that, Christ is himself Lord over the storms. What troubles us does not trouble him. As Matt Papa and Kristyn Getty sing in today’s music:

Who holds our faith when fears arise?
Who stands above the stormy trial?
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?

The answer is Christ himself. Though never doing evil, the Lord does not hesitate to turn evil to his own good purposes, and to use the trials and sufferings of this life to draw us closer to himself. He will not abandon us in the midst of the waves. He will be with us, whether in the boat, walking on the water, or reaching out to draw us up out of the surf. As Paul says, he is “the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.” (emphasis mine).

And because of who he is—because we have him as our hope—we don’t need to be afraid. We don’t need to be afraid either of death or of the trials that precede it. As Paul says again:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is what hope brings: peace and joy. Because, in the end, all will be well. All will be well with us, as long as we are his.

Think of it as knowing the genre of the story you’re reading, or of the movie you’re watching. If you are reading a traditional romance, you know that, as Shakespeare said, “Journeys end in lovers’ meeting” (Twelfth Night). The story will have a happy ending, because it is that kind of story.

If you are Christ’s, your story will have a happy ending—because it is that kind of story!

It’s not a tragedy. No matter how hard the events of Acts I–IV are, Act V will bring the reunion you long for.

O sing hallelujah!
Our hope springs eternal;
O sing hallelujah!
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death.

This is our song, and we need not doubt its truth. Christ is alive, he has conquered, and he holds his people safe in his hand.

Christ, our hope in life and death. Thanks be to God!

Prayer:
O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever.
Amen.
—from The Book of Common Prayer, ACNA 2019 version

Jessica Snell
Writer and Editor
Alumna of Biola University