July 23, 2026

Hope

On Sunday mornings we’ve been hearing Paul’s words to the Romans about hope. Along with faith and love, hope is one of God’s abiding gifts to us, but hope can also be misplaced.

One of the wanderings to which I am prone is living for the future. When things are difficult, I think to myself things like, “If I can just get through Lent, then things will get better.” Sometimes it works out as I hope. Sometimes Easter comes and I think to myself, “It will all be alright if I can just get to summer.” And usually Summer is lovely and relaxed, but sometimes summer living isn’t so easy, and I find myself longing for autumn and the regular routine of worship. Can you see the pattern here?

It is good to look forward to the gifts God has planned for us in the weeks and months ahead, but when we place our hope in the patterns of the world, we will be disappointed. We know how the pattern works. We are, as Paul says, “hoping for things that are seen.” Our great hope as followers of the Way is not in the patterns that we have seen, but that the pattern itself will be shattered and made whole. Our hope is not that autumn will bring relief, or that next year our ship will come in, but that the ups and downs and ins and outs and changes and chances of the world will pass away. It’s good and fine to hope that next week will be better, but remember that next week is an earthen vessel. Hold fast to the hope, not for “someday,” but for the unseen “one day” when all our hopes are fulfilled. Christ will come again.