This is the special Saturday-the day between what is called Good Friday and Easter. For Christians, it marks the time between the events of the crucifxion of Jesus and his resurrection. I wonder if there is any other account in history that so powerfully captures and presents the experience of hope surrendered and hope surpassed.

To appreciate the extent of hope felt by the people who surrounded Jesus, one must read the full gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and have some understanding of the history of the Jews and the setting of that Roman-occupied land. The expectations on the part of the disciples were on a different plane than what the mission of Jesus would accomplish. That is most evident in what was happening on this “day between.”

The leader was lost–dead and buried. The disciples were huddled and confused. Whatever the personal hopes each had for a change of circumstances were dead and apparently sealed in a tomb. What had happened to Jesus, the one called “Messiah?” This was not “hope surrendered” but actual “hope lost.”

The biblical account tells what happened the day after this “day between” and that is our advantage and our vantage point. A favourite hymn of mine has this line, “‘Tis mystery all, th’Immortal dies.” We know that the Friday before the Passover was not the end of the story. The mystery spoken of in this hymn is not the same as the confusion of the disciples of Jesus. The next day, the women went out in earnest to visit the tomb of a dead man.

The news returned that the tomb was empty and the body was not there. More confusion? But once the disciples met with their resurrected and living Lord, they had, among other mind-numbing matters, to sort out what had been their individual hopes. “Now I see! I had been hoping for the wrong thing.” Hence, this has to become “Hope surrendered.”

Then, there is the reframing of hope into a new hope–one that is later spoken of as a confidence and an assurance. Hence, this is “Hope surpassed”–something far beyond what is reasonable.

Often, we just want our hopes to be realized. This death-to-life Easter event tells of hope that is surpassed.

Feelings of hope often increase and diminish with the input that we receive from others. In the past twelve months, there has been a lot in the news about failed or teetering institutions (banks, businesses, organizations) and the ups and (mostly) downs of stock markets, international trading, and portfolios. Some of this reaches out from the headlines and touches our lives in very immediate ways.

Most immediate are job loss, shrinking employment prospects, mounting debt, jeopardized housing, and deferred retirement. I’m sorry. It’s not a pretty picture and I don’t want to add to the continuous feed of dismal news that the media has been delivering for months. It’s just setting the context for the next part.

The point is (and the question is), “From where does our hope arise?”

It seems, too often, we are tossed about by circumstances and personal hope has all of the nauseating movement of a ship rolling and pitching in a storm on the ocean. The rise and fall of that personal experience of hope seems to be more related to the crests and troughs of the seas than to the qualities of the vessel. That’s not unreasonable. As the old mariner’s prayer goes, “O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” There are gargantuan forces at work–ones beyond our understanding.

And yet . . . and yet, “This is my hope!” “My hope.”

I have to admit that, lately, my personal experience of hope has gone through some ups and downs and that mostly affected by the news people delivered to me about business and income. I had had my expectations set on some imagined outcome.

You may not know this about me. My early training and qualifications were as a ship’s officer. I still hold those qualifications. Over the years, I have made a number of voyages through hurricanes and gales. I’ve made passages on relatively small but good “sea boats” (small ships compared to the modern, large cruise ships). During a long watch in the black of a stormy night AND spray is smashing against the wheelhouse windows AND the ship is yawing about AND we’re holding on for “good life” AND I say to my wheelsman, “My, that was a good-sized wave,” what is worth looking to? The conditions are awful. What I need to know is that the ship is seaworthy and I’ll do my part to get through to the next day.

I’m no stoic. My experience of hope does rise and fall. Yet, it is good cause and good occasion (each day) to examine wherein my hope resides. Hope rises.

How about yours?

This week, I gave myself a birthday present. I had my annual, physical checkup. Years ago, when I crossed the threshold of the Half-Century Club, my family physician recommended once-a-year visits to monitor my state of physical health. To keep me mindful, I book them around the time of my birthday.

My doctor ordered lab tests. I had them done and the results were sent to his office early enough that, if there had been any case for alarm, I should have heard before the appointment for the check up was made.

With each passing year, I appreciate good health as a blessing and feel thankful. Some parts are showing signs of wear and aging but, all-in-all, I feel good. Here’s where I can make a distinction between a wish and a hope. I could wish that I was 20-something again but I can’t hope for that. Hope is that nothing is seriously wrong. So far, my hopes have been realized in this respect.

There is another aspect of hope that is highlighted through this routine of the annual physical checkup. We know that some aspects of health are beyond our control. For example, one of the people in the waiting room had a nasty cough and I hope that I didn’t catch a “germ” and get what she has. Yet, there are certain protections that can modify what I hope for. As an example, if I’m not sensible about my diet, how can I hope to control things like weight and cholesterol levels?

There is one more thing. If the visit to the doctor’s office revealed that something was wrong-seriously wrong-what hope do I have in the days that follow? I’m OK in that regard and that is a topic for another day.

I hope you are well and wish the best for you!

The Toronto Star of January 17, 2009 carried an editorial by John R. MacArthur entitled “Hope as a commodity.” It is written on the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. MacArthur considers the leadership of Obama in terms of his own hopes and in the context of the “U.S. trademark called ‘hope.’”

Leading up to the American presidential election, Canadians went south to volunteer for the Obama campaign. Canadian national news and commentators gave more than usual attention to the ascent of a new President. Stories from places around the world showed people entranced by the person of Obama. On Inauguration Day, busloads of Canadians will be in Washington so that they and their children can take part in this special, historic event. There has been a certain magical attraction.

Leaders inspire hope and so people follow them. What is curious here is the extent of the hope that has been created. To say that it has captured the imagination of millions is an oversimplification. If you interviewed people about their enthusiasm and expectations for the Obama era, there would be dozens—if not hundreds—of different types of responses. Withdrawal of troops, new foreign relations, economic recovery, minorities in places of power—name your own expections and hopes for the Obama era.

Again, I say, “curious the extent of the hope” because there are people whose hopes have been raised who are outside of the range of direct influence of the American political system and only indirectly affected by American presidential decisions. Then, what is it about one person that fans the hopes—the diverse hopes—of millions?

This is not a comment about what President Obama will or will not deliver to the American people nor about what might or might not happen in the world as a result of his leadership. This is a comment (and a question) about the millions of individual experiences of hope that are stimulated by the appearance of just one person.

Probably, every day we use the word “hope” or hear the word “hope” used in a conversation. It’s an everyday expression. “I hope that their on time.” “I hope that my team wins.” “I hope that she calls.” Sometimes, the word “hope” is a substitute for “want” or “wish” or some other word expressing aspiration. That is an appropriate use of the word.

Yet, for the purposes of this blog and for my research and writing, I want to consider hope in its “deeper” aspects . . . hope that sustains a person through difficult times . . . hope that is connected to closely-held beliefs . . . hope that influences major life decisions.

Beneath the superficial and transitory (“I hope that we have nice weather today.”), where is hope connected in the depths of our human experience?

Thus far, posts on this blog about “hope” have been of lexical considerations. By far, the most interesting words are in the comments that people make on For you to do. Please post a comment there if you have not already done so.

Hope, in its crucial relevance, is more than a word or a concept. As part of our human experience, what is its breadth and depth for the individual? Where is it focused? What gives rise to hope and increases it? or reduces it? How important is it as a person looks ahead to tomorrow?

This is a new day, a new month, a new year. What part will hope play in your life in 2009? I can’t even begin to imagine how important it will become for me in the next 365 days.

Eventually, I want to move into the consideration of what is “hope” in terms of our human experience.

For now, there are some basics of laying a groundwork. Previous posts provided definitions of related terms and the noun form in various languages. Here is one description of the origins of the word.

Hope [OE]

“The origins of the word hope are obscure. It appears to have started life among the Low German dialects of northern Germany (whence English hope and Dutch hoop), and later spread to Scandinavia (giving Swedish hopp in Danish haab) and High German (modern German has the verb often in the derived noun hoffnung ‘hope’). Where did the original Low German forms come from, though? A suggestion that has found some favor is that the word is related to hop, and that it started from the notion of ‘jumping to safety.’ The theory goes that the place of refuge thus reached gives one ‘hope,’ but it has an air of desperation.”

Source: Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto, Arcade Publishing, New York, 1990

If you have any other reference materials that explain the origins of the word in English (or any other language), I’d be pleased to receive them.

“Hope” is both a verb and a noun. Below are some related words (ambition, aspiration, expectation, desire, dream, optimism, promise, wish) in alphabetical order with definitions of the noun form. Then, there is hope with its definitions. (Definitions are taken from WordWeb 5.5 which is a fine software application that can be downloaded at http://wordweb.info)

ambition

1.  A cherished desire
2.  A strong drive for success

aspiration

1.  A will to succeed
2.  A cherished desire

expectation

1.  Belief about (or mental picture of) the future
2.  Anticipating with confidence of fulfillment
3.  The feeling that something is about to happen

desire

1.  The feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state
2.  An inclination to want things
3.  A state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality

dream

1.  Imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake
2.  A cherished desire
3.  A fantastic but vain hope

optimism

1.  The optimistic feeling that all is going to turn out well
2.  A general disposition to expect the best in all things promise
3.  Grounds for feeling hopeful about the future

wish

1.  A specific feeling of desire
2.  An expression of some desire or inclination
3.  The particular preference that you have

hope

1.  A specific instance of feeling hopeful
2.  The general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled
3.  Grounds for feeling hopeful about the future
4.  One of the three Christian virtues

Here are the noun forms of the word “hope” in a number of languages. If you are a native speaker and there is an error below or if you want to add another language, please bring that to my attention.

Arabic – يرجو

Chinese -希望

Danish – håb

Dutch – hopen

Finnish – toivo

French – espérance

German – hoffnung

Greek – ελπίδα

Hebrew – תקווה

Italian – sperare

Japanese -希望

Korean –희망

Portuguese – esperança

Russian – надеяться

Spanish – esperanza

Swedish – förhoppning

Source: www.answers.com

Please see the tab For you to do and enter your comments.

I have been researching and writing on the theme of “hope.” How important do you think hope is in the human experience? As a life coach, I expect that my clients are hoping for something. Otherwise, why would a person be motivated to work with a coach? Yet, is hope different from a wish or a dream or an aspiration?

We use the word “hope” to express a whole range of desires and expectations. “I hope that it doesn’t rain today.” “I hope that I get the job.” “I hope that I can overcome this illness.” Some things are simple. Some things are significant.

I’ve created this blog as a way to gather the expressions of as many people as possible representing a wide range of ages and national/ethnic backgrounds.

I am curious and want to know what you hope for.

Please read under the tab For you to do before adding a comment. Thank you!