Recently Sandra had attended a...
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Recently Sandra had attended a lecture in which the speaker said, "The 20th century theologian Jurgen Moltmann suggests that the most important question in life is, 'For what can I hope?' " The question had grabbed her attention immediately, and for the ensuing weeks it had continued to whirl in her mind. Today was no exception. "For what can I hope?" she questioned herself silently. She had no concrete answer. But, as she tasted the question again and again in her thoughts, it yielded even richer flavors. She began to understand that it was both a question with no answer and a question with a multitude of answers at the same time. She sensed a power in the asking of it, as if doing so somehow propelled her toward her future with renewed energy, heightened vitality. "Perhaps," she thought to herself, with new-found perspective, "the answers are not so important as the questions. Perhaps in asking questions, we somehow manifest experience." Her thoughts almost made her dizzy. As one of her friends told her at times, "When you talk like that, it makes my head hurt." "For what can I hope ..." Sandra's mind danced with possibilities as she entered the sanctuary almost oblivious to the massive crowd gathered for the Christmas Eve service. As she stood in the back of the church, her attention was drawn to the chancel steps, to the empty manger resting there. "For what can I hope ..." Her question trailed off into the silence of the night as she absorbed the wonder of the answer her eyes already understood. -- Fannin
