The Habit of Hope

We find ourselves perched on the outer edge of Lent, a season during which we prepare our weary hearts for transformation as we journey toward the hope of Resurrection. This Lenten tension reminds us that the hopeful movement toward Resurrection is often infused with hardship, sometimes turmoil, always complexity.

In her book Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, American journalist Krista Tippett compellingly describes hope:

I define hope as distinct from optimism or idealism. It has nothing to do with wishing. It references reality at every turn and reveres truth. It lives open eyed and wholeheartedly with the darkness that is woven ineluctably into the light of life and sometimes seems to overcome it. Hope, like every virtue, is a choice that becomes a habit that becomes spiritual muscle memory. It's a renewable resource for moving through life as it is, not as we wish it to be.

This month, we pay musical homage to this complicated notion of hope. Brahms' A German Requiem seeks to console the desolate, reminding the soul which longs and faints of its fundamental dwelling place. The Chancel Choir will present the central movement of this masterwork in worship on February 26 before presenting the requiem in its entirety alongside the Greensboro Symphony Master Chorale that same afternoon at 4:00 PM.

As we move toward Lent, we also commemorate Black History Month and the great tradition of the spiritual, a genre whose texts resound with an unshakeable hope in the midst of unthinkable despair. We'll hear solo spirituals sung in worship on February 12, 19, and 26 before hearing a program of spirituals on Tuesday, February 28, at 12:00 PM, presented by Chicago-based baritone Nicholas Davis, the first recital in Centenary's new Lenten Noontime Series.

The virtue of hope, as Tippett notes, is a choice - a habit practiced, a gesture honed. Join us as we explore hope, that it may become “spiritual muscle memory,” renewing and reorienting us as we journey on.

Jonathan Emmons Director of Music Ministries