More words on hope from "In the End - The Beginning" by Jurgen Moltmann
The present and the future, experience and hope, initially clash in Christian faith. Between them is the remembrance of Christ crucified by the powers of this world. It is only beyond the cross that we can see the first daybreak colours of God's new world. This means that Christian hope is a 'hope against hope', or a hope where there is nothing else left to hope for.
So, does this mean that 'hope against hope' leaves us without hope - ever. Since it is the hope where there is nothing else left to hope for...it mean we are left with hope. We are left with those begining colors that we can use to paint the day as God hands it to us. We can face the abyss as though it is a canvas that is begging us to throw some color onto its "nothingness" and begin to make something happen in the midst of nothing at all. That may be a difficult thing to do. And yet, we are promised an advocate who will stand with us and help us get the painting on it way. Amen Come, Holy Spirit.
Connection: The present is never easy to move through. That is why promises are tough to deal with when we cannot see proof of what is to come. That's why we have others. Go ahead and reach out and help or let yourself be helped into what is to come.
How wonderful are the many ways you urge us to move into your future, O God. It is as though you have a patience that will truly never give up on us and you also have the power to spark our imagination so that we will move with you into today. Thanks be to you. Amen.
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