Entering the Hope Portal with Krista Tippett and OnBeing

First, I’m going to be taking a pause on the Psalms for a few weeks because something emerged in my podcast feed that deeply spoke to me and I hope can speak to you as well. I have been a long time listener of Krista Tippett and her public radio show, OnBeing (formerly Speaking of Faith). Over the last few years Krista has shifted from a syndicated program on public radio to podcasting and online writing. Her wisdom, heart, and depth continues to inspire me.

Saturday morning, as Scout and I were heading out, I saw that a new podcast had downloaded entitled, “Welcome to the Hope Portal.” Over the next seven weeks, OnBeing will be drawing upon the deep wisdom of elders in our world to delve into hope. In the opening podcast, Krista defines hope in this way:

It looks the world full on, it looks reality in the face, and it refuses to accept that things have to be this way. And then this orientation of hope throws one’s intelligence, one’s energy, one’s persistence, one’s creativity and courage behind that insistence.

If this sounds familiar, it is because it is. A year ago, I also dig a deep dive into hope. Last summer, I spent that season going chapter by chapter through MaryAnn McKibben Dana’s book Hope: A User’s Manual . You can find (most - I missed tagging a few of them) the posts from those at this link - Imago Scriptura Book Club

So I think it is interesting that this series from OnBeing showed up this weekend. Thinking of all the moving pieces in my life right now, I am going to step away from the Psalms for a little bit and dig deep on hope for me (and hopefully for you as well).

First, I encourage you to subscribe (free) to OnBeing’s substack page and their podcast feed so you can hear the conversations over the coming weeks and also to be able to download their journaling pages. I am not going to recount the things that Krista and others share in the conversations but instead focus here on what their conversations and the discussion questions stir in me. As well, I’ll of course be sharing photos that speak hope to me. Some of them will connect directly to the official conversations and others may speak in different ways. But this gritty, strong, rooted hope will be at the heart of it all.

Here’s the first post which includes a link to the podcast

Welcome to the Hope Portal

In my own experience of hope, especially in the way I have come to experience it, I resonate with what Paul says in Romans 5:5 that “hope does not disappoint.” Optimism, positivity, etc will disappoint but a hope that is grounded not solely on what happens does not disappoint. It is what helps get through the disappointments. It is what stands out even in the midst of everything else, especially the harder times. And so, I want to start my own reflection with these photos from Friday morning and then Saturday morning.

The Friday one was at about 6:15am in the parking lot of Planet Fitness. It is in a strip mall just about a mile from our house and there’s a Burger King in the lower right, a big empty parking lot at the lower part, and more strip malls ahead. There was just the tiniest glimpse of color and light starting to emerge. And the thing of it is that about 10 minutes later, it was just a grey morning. This glimpse stood out over the ordinaryness of the parking lot and stayed with me even as it disappeared from view.

The other two were from a walk on Saturday morning. I love these moments where a puddle reflects something far different from everything else immediately around it. So a grey, gravely, rocky passage with the reflection of the green trees filtered with golden light.

Hope shows up in a strip mall parking lot and it shows up as beauty that looks nothing like what surrounds it.

Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed

PS - It is exhausting to be as cute as Scout…