14 February 2005

This will be our last week with Jurgen Moltmann on hope.

If the Christian faith is dependent on the power of hope for its life and if reason is dependent on hope for its attentiveness, then without hope faith crumbles, and reason becomes cynical and unreasonable. 'Sin' doesn't mean some moral error; it means separation from God and from the life which God gives.

We are always being invited into life. Life, as a promise of our God, is always more than it is now. Therefore, we do not have to settle for the way things are going today. In fact, we are told to leap out into what is not yet here. The promise that goes along with that invitation is that there will be abundant life and it will be in the midst of relationships to others and to our God. As long as we keep turning away from this promise for life we lose our ability to hope and with that our ability to live. That is a great tragedy because it is all our God wants for us...life together forevermore. To be without this promise of new life is to be in a hellish place.

Connection: When you find yourself walking through this day without hope of any kind, it is time to connect with others who trust that our God can and does provide for us and uphold us and is ready to show us more than what we can see. Do you have people in your life who will do that with you?

Lord of the Promise, when we are shut down and want to be shut up, touch us with your gentle Spirit so that we will know that we are not alone and you long for us to find life within the gathering of your saints. Amen.