You have before you on this week’s bulletin cover, the themes of hope at General Council.
- There is Hope
- Hope in the practice of walking with others
- Hope in the practice of persistence
- Hope in the practice of resistance
- Hope in the practice of celebration

In defining hope, I think we all need to take to heart, one of the quotes that I began with, “Hope is not a little thing.” And yet surprisingly, we are often tempted to turn hope into something far less powerful or profound. Sometimes we turn hope into a blind or cheap optimism. We try to elude ourselves by thinking that things will turn out all right as long we don’t look to closely at the hard reality that faces us. But such a betrayal of hope, only serves to betray us. What hope can there be for the mending or reconciliation of a relationship if those affected don’t first look deeply into their own hearts to acknowledge the anger, the bitterness, the hurtful actions, and the acts of betrayal? What hope can there be for the global environmental crisis, if we don’t take a long hard look at the devastation and suffering around us and identify the root causes of pollution and over consumption? What hope can there be for real peace in Israel, in Iraq, in so much of Africa, if we simply replace one regime for another without exploring the complex issues that keep the conflicts alive and growing? What hope can there be for your own future, if when faced with uncertainty or a crisis you turn to alcohol or drugs, shopping or TV, or a frenzy of activity as a way to pretend that things will work out?

Confession is an essential stepping-stone to living in hope. When we confess the reality we live in, with all of its beauty and brokenness, with all of its joys and tragedies, with all of its light and shadows we are more likely to humbly accept that we are not in control of our own lives or the life of this planet. We can admit that on our own we are fragile. We do not have the strength, resources or the vision to chart a hopeful course for the future. And so as we read the letter to the Romans, we can yield to the possibility that hope has to be something new and unforeseen, something that we cannot manufacture with our own resources. As people of faith, we look to God as the source of that new and unforeseen hope. God is the one who can weave a new future beyond our imagining. The book of Job talks of hope using the image of a tree that is cut down, only to bud and put forth new branches at the scent of water. God is the scent of water for us, calling forth and nurturing new shoots of life when we can only see decay and devastation. Over and over again, in the faith of our ancestors, we see the wonderful pattern of God’s hope.

When Sarah is resigned to a future without children, God surprises Abraham and Sarah with the promise of as many ancestors as there are stars in the heavens – and in her old age, Sarah gives birth to Isaac. When the Hebrews are burdened by years of enslavement in Egypt, God walks with them through the desert and restores in them the hope of a homeland. Many years later, when they are torn from their country and their traditions, God’s prophets speak to them of God’s faithfulness and goodness and hope is again born among them. And when they turn away from God and embrace greed and violence, God’s hope persists by challenging them and loving them into acts of repentance that lead them to return to life-giving ways. And when God’s gift of love in Jesus Christ was mocked, rejected, and put to death and all hope seemed to die with him, once again God shattered our expectations for the future and three days later hope and love were resurrected and reborn.

To be the church, to be the body of Christ, is to be a people whose hope rests in God. To be the church means to commit our lives to this radical future of God’s – a future that is always open to the creation and nurture of new life, a future that proclaims that what is broken can be mended, that what is lost can be found, and that what is ended can lead to new beginnings. To live a hope that anticipates this radical future, is not any easy undertaking. “Hope is the struggle” is a true statement about the practice of hope. It is a constant struggle not to compromise the hope of God for us and our world. When we choose to wars and fighting as a way to solve disagreements, we compromise God’s hope. When we try to achieve security and fulfillment at the expense of others, we compromise God’s hope. When we put our trust in the quick fix gurus to give us answers to complex human rights or justice issues, we compromise God’s hope. When we let our mistakes and defeats become the reason to give up and accept the status quo, we compromise God’s hope.

Of course in order to hope by practicing persistence, we also need to practice resistance. We need to support one another by resisting the notion that simply by moving the pieces around we are participating the newness God offers. We need to resist making finances and money the key factor that determines our future, either the future of our lives and households or the ministries God calls us to be about here at EMUC. We need to resist the lifestyles that create pain and injustice for others –such as over consumption or consumerism, or the support of individuals or regimes that seek power through domination and coercion, or in choices that result in the careless use of land, or through customs and policies that label people because of race, age, or sexual orientation. We need to resist the temptation to pray and live prayers of little faith. We need to resist the temptation to minimize the strength of God’s promise for the well-being of the world.

Then the Magnificat was read - you know that passage in Luke’s gospel, where Mary praises God who remembers the lowly, who shows mercy and fills the hungry with good things. After the reading people were then asked, where is there hope? After a long, heavy silence, voices were heard from all over the room:
- hope is in the steps to peace in countries like Ireland
- hope is when I see someone in the community really caring and sharing what they have with someone else
- this is a place of hope for us, where people are learning who never had a chance before
- hope is people coming here and eating and talking together.
As the comments came it was like seeing small little candles lighting up the darkness throughout the community hall until the whole place glowed.