Dec 11, 2025
"Hope" is a term often associated with Christmas. "A thrill of
hope, a weary world rejoices..." "The hopes and fears of all the
years are met in thee tonight."
But what is "hope"? And how is it tied to Jesus's birth and life?
Is hope an expectation of a particular outcome, or is it something
deeper--perhaps a quality manifest in the character of God as
displayed by Jesus. So often in Christian culture, hope is tied to
the hope for salvation and life with God after we've died. But that
makes hope mostly a "then" thing rather than a character trait for
the "nows" of our lives. We want hope "now"!
In this episode, LDF host Dan Wotherspoon and his
friend and one of his partners in the Faith Journey Foundation,
Mark Crego, discuss hope from multiple angles.
What is disclosed about God in the nativity narratives? Would
"liberation" be a better word than "salvation" when discussing the
power of Jesus's example in our lives (here and now without worries
about life after this one)?
Their discussion might be a bit difficult for some Latter-day
Saints who want Jesus to be "Christ" right from birth and someone
who who rescues us from our pain and travail? But both Mark and Dan
work from the perspectives inherent in LDS sensibilities about
ourselves as already divine, as another introduction of God into
the world. They find that emphasizing Jesus of "humble birth" and a
very human life to be much more powerful than Jesus as
categorically different than the rest of us humans. Ultimately, it
feels more hopeful that understanding Jesus as totally "other" than
us.
We think you will enjoy this discussion and its connections to
"hope" throughout! Listen in!