Dear friends,
In this holy season of Advent, as we prepare our hearts to welcome the light that enters a weary and wounded world, we dare to speak of hope – not the thin hope of wishful thinking, but the deep, living hope that God breathes into all who refuse to surrender to despair. It is the hope that rises like the dawn after a long night, the hope that asserts itself even where the possibilities seem to have dried up.
Here in the Tent of Nations, hope is not just something we feel – it is a discipline we choose every day. It is the courage to stand up when circumstances weigh us down, the faithfulness to tend the soil, plant trees, and witness through simple, consistent actions that darkness will never have the last word.
We trust God to empower us to nurture a hope that refuses to die – a hope that takes deep root in dry and difficult soil, a hope that reminds us that we are a people of resurrection, called to be bearers of life even in places marked by struggle.
Advent does not invite us to the comfort of hope, but to the courage of hope. Genuine hope is costly. It stretches our hearts beyond what we think we can bear. It keeps us awake when we would rather sleep. It teaches us to trust in God’s promise, even when our eyes cannot yet see its fulfillment.
And so hope requires patience – a holy and active waiting that is rooted in our unshakeable trust in the God whose love never withdraws, whose mercy never leaves us and whose presence never fails.
We remember the prophet Jeremiah who, in the midst of war and devastation, performed a bewildering act of faith: he bought a field. When the future seemed impossible, he planted a promise in the ground. His bold gesture declared that God’s future is more real than fear, more real than destruction, more real than uncertainty.
May this Advent season strengthen your spirit, deepen your faith and renew in all of us the love and courage to hope beyond all hope.
Blessings and salaam,
Daoud Nassar