Hope Bearers
“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”
Startled from scrolling on my phone, I looked up to see a silver-haired woman sheepishly and yet joyfully ringing a previously unrecognized bell. That clanging instrument hung on the wall in the waiting area of a major hospital. Others abandoned books and phones and raised their heads too.
Waiting. We were all waiting. Each in our unique worlds, gathered around a common theme-radiation—eradication of cancer cells—for ourselves or for a beloved.
She began to ring more confidently and we all released whatever was in our hands to press our palms together and clap; to applaud the completion of her cycle of treatments! Well done you hope-bearing bell-ringer! We clapped harder. Some laughed. Some cried. That bell woke us up out of our stupefied waiting and reminded us of that for which we hoped.
This morning, I was pondering the story of the rag-tag crew that lowered a paralyzed man through the roof (Mark 2:1-12)…I mean so sure where they that Jesus could heal their friend, they pushed through the throngs, dragged him up to the top of a thatched hut, and cut a whole in the roof so he could be seen by the Great Healer. Imagine the dust and dirt flying onto Jesus and the crowd pressing in on him, as they raised their heads to see what was happening on the roof.
And then the mat, teetering from the ropes lowering closer and closer such that the crowd had to step back and Jesus could in no way ignore the paralyzed man in front of him.
Faith-filled hope bearers that’s what those mat-dragging friends were. And their hope, their faith was the genesis of their friend’s healing.
Hope bearer—a bell-ringing woman.
Hope bearers—children, and spouses, and parents, and friends ferrying their loved ones to radiation.
Hope bearers— brave patients sprawling out in humiliating and uncomfortable positions to receive the desired cure.
Hope bearers—compassionate techs, and nurses, and doctors.
Hope bearers—…
My friends, we are not to hold the hope alone. We are to bear it together. If you are in need of a hope bearer, can you bravely reach out and ask someone to hold that faith with, or for you? If you are filled with hope, spread that around dear hope-bearer. We need you to ring that bell! Again. And Again. And Again. And AGAIN.
