大象传媒

Good morning. On December 1st 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery Alabama.听

In reaction, on December 5th a one-day boycott of Montgomery鈥檚 buses was organised. This movement, led by Martin Luther King, achieved its goal of desegregation of Alabama鈥檚 buses, but only after 381 days of boycotts. This was the birth of the American Civil Rights movement.

A little known fact about Rosa Parks is that this was not the first time that she had refused to give up her seat on a bus. However, it was her first arrest. It was not her last.

Why did Rosa refuse to give up her seat that day? It was not that she was too tired to stand. Rather, she was tired of giving in to injustice. She dared to hope that one day things will be better than this.

Hope is to acknowledge that our present state is not our permanent address. Hope enables us to endure today because we hope for a better tomorrow. Hope is rooted in optimism and possibility.

Christian hope is not to cross our fingers and hope for the best. Christian hope is rooted in an understanding of a God of love and justice who is fully engaged with the world and therefore will not leave it to its own devices forever.

Advent is a season of hope, eschatological hope, even, looking forward to a day when God in Christ will return and establish justice and peace in every nation.听 Until then we take a stand, or a seat, for justice.

God of truth and love,
God of today and tomorrow,
give us the courage to hope and work
for a future that is better than our past
and brighter than our present. Amen.

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