Hope.
MAY HOPE NEVER FORGET THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE
“It’s going to turn out fine.” It was the last thing church members wanted to hear as we packed up possessions from the building we were leaving.
It wasn’t easy saying goodbye to a building the small congregation had tried so hard to keep. That line hung over our heads as a cheerful announcement of our apparent failure.
Other gatherings of the congregation had been able to sustain their presence in the building for over 120 years. The current faith community could not.
Maybe, people believed that everything, somehow would “magically” fix itself. We had been losing some of what we deeply valued for a long time.
The building represented a particular gathering of people who had been faithful to God and to each other. Maybe, our optimism had proven false.
“A shoot will come out from the stump … a branch from its roots. — Isaiah 11:1”
Juanita Tweedy quoted the scripture from Isaiah at a small group gathering. Hope doesn’t need good circumstances to take root — sometimes, all that’s needed is a shoot peeking out of the stump of a dead tree.
We turned to looking for that shoot and nourishing it. We try to live out a couple of things that we’ve learned about hope as a faith community and servant to others:
We use hope to shape our community and the world in ways we never dreamed possible.
We remember that hope strengthened by an individual is good. But, savor the lesson of knowing that hope crafted in community — can thrive.
We know that sometimes there is a scarcity of people in the world who believe in the dreams of others. Instead, we “easter up” hope by believing in people’s dreams and helping them find a path to make those dreams real.
We set up our volunteers, partners, and residents for success by lifting up what they’re good at — so hope can raise itself up.
“May hope always find sanctuary in your heart.”
