A Thought For The Week Of December 26, 2016

"... always be ready to make a reply to anyone who asks you to explain the hope that is in you." (1 Peter 3:15) I get the sense that at least in Peter's eyes, hopefulness is not the default position of the human heart. And I think if you follow the news and look at what goes on in the world you can probably understand that. In a lot of ways people do seem to have lost hope - and I see that this week as people begin to look ahead to the new year. It's as if the move forward in time is being made very tentatively. It's not that the year that's almost passed away is being lamented as a great year. Famous and inspiring people from Leonard Cohen to Carrie Fisher to Richard Adams have died seemingly one after another; various elections haven't turned out the way they were expected to, and those on the losing end of them are apprehensive about what the results will bring. And the feeling seems to be that 2017 will be worse. It all seems rather bleak. I feel a sense of unease rather than celebration as people look ahead to a new year. People have lost hope in institutions, including the church. People have lost hope in politicians and governments. We're conditioning ourselves to believe that things will not be as good for our children as they've been for us. The Arctic is 30 degrees celsius warmer than it should be. Terrorism and violence are in the news it seems every day. Where will it end? To be hopeful seems foolish. That, of course, represents an opportunity for people of faith - who should, of all people, be the most hopeful! Hopeful people stand out at this moment in history - and, really, who should be more hopeful than followers of Jesus, who died and yet rose again to life! Surely that's why Peter tells us that we should be prepared to offer a reason for our hope, because simply by being hopeful we will be noticed! There are a lot of things we should be able to do as hopeful people: we have to look for the good rather than expect the bad; we have to speak truth rather than surrender to falsehood; we have to work to make things better rather than lament how bad things are. Then, we have to be ready to explain why we do those things. And, really, it's simple. It's because we believe in Jesus - that he is alive and with us. And if you have a real belief in a Lord who died and rose again and is still alive then we of all people should be the most hopeful. I don't have all the answers to the world's problems. But I'm convinced of this - that if God truly loved the world so much that he gave his only Son (that he gave, literally, of himself) and if God's Son continues to be with us, then God has not given up on us. The world will go on. I am a person of hope. Happy new year!