The Cord of Hope
Last week, as I started my second term and second intensive week at Divinity School, musings about faith were floating around my head. What is faith, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ? What's the difference between various flavors and brands? And how did early Christians, two millennia ago, characterize it? (And, did I have "enough faith" to help me through the challenging, kind-of-scary week ahead of me?)โฃ โฃ Then, in the first reading of my new Church History class, as I dove into the world of martyrs and saints, these lovely words by Ignatius of Antioch--on his way to Rome where he would likely be killed for his faith--jumped off the page at me:โฃ โฃMarie Spartali Stillman's 'Love's Messenger' (1855,delartmuseum)
"๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ."โฃ โฃ Seven simple words to make sense of it all--the complicated history, the even more complicated creeds, and the timeless searching and seeking.โฃ โฃ I think Saint Ignatius had figured things out: true faith moves us toward love. Love is both path and destination. And if we begin with the end in mind, it's usually easier to get there. --MWBโฃ
Ignatius of Antioch, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ถ๐ด, ๐๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด.]
Strong's Concordance
tiqvah: cord
Original Word: ืชึดึผืงึฐืึธื
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: tiqvah
Phonetic Spelling: (tik-vaw')
Definition: cord
Brown-Driver-Briggs
I. [ืชึดึผืงึฐืึธื] noun femininecord (compare โ at the beginning); โ construct ืชึดึผืงึฐืึทืช ยืืึผื) ืึทืฉึธึผืื ึดืJoshua 2:18,21.
II. ืชึดึผืงึฐืึธื34 noun feminine hope; โ absolute ืณืช Hosea 2:17 +; construct ืชึดึผืงึฐืึทืช Job 8:13 +; suffix ืชึดึผืงึฐืึธืชึดื Job 6:8 +, etc.; โ
1 hope, Jeremiah 31:17; Lamentations 3:29; Job 5:16; Job 7:6; Job 11:18,20; Job 14:7,19; Job 17:15a Job 19:10; Psalm 62:6; Proverbs 19:18; Proverbs 26:12; Proverbs 29:20; Ruth 1:12; ืณืึถึผืชึทื ืช Hosea 2:17; ืณืึฒืกึดืืจึตื ืึทืชึผ Zechariah 9:12 (i.e. with hope of deliverance).
2 = ground of hope Job 4:6; Psalm 71:5 (compare Psalm 62:6).
3 things hoped for, outcome, Ezekiel 19:5; Ezekiel 37:11; Job 6:8; Job 8:13; Job 17:15b (but read ืืึบืึธืชึดื แต5 Me Bi Siegf Beer Bu Du), Job 27:8; Psalm 9:19; Proverbs 10:28; Proverbs 11:7,23; Proverbs 23:18; Proverbs 24:14 (strike out Toy as gloss); ืณืึทืึฒืจึดืืช ืึฐืช Jeremiah 29:11 (i.e. by hendyadis, the hoped-for future).
To live without Hope is to Cease to live. Fyodor Dostoevsky
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.
Emily Dickinson
Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
โ[U]ntil the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words,โ'Wait and hope. 'โ
Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
A Noiseless Patient Spider
BY WALT WHITMAN
A noiseless patient spider, I markโd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Markโd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launchโd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be formโd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.