Keeping it real, part 2

Categories: god, forty-blogs-of-lent

Tags: Christianity, Hope

Date: 23 February 2013 14:48:59

Keeping it real

part 2

Forty blogs of Lent

Day 10

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
After trying to prevent ranting on about grammar in part 1 of Keeping it real (and failing) I'm turning my attention from love to hope. (No prizes for guessing what part 3 will be about.) Hope is active, it's something we do. Too often we think of hope as being a wishy washy word. "I hope it will be sunny tomorrow." Hope is not often used as a strong word. Compare that to this:
but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15 ESV
Hope is about the future. Brother Roger of Taizé said, "The source of hope is in God, a God who simply loves us and can do nothing else, a God who never stops seeking us." That is the souse of our hope, in a God who loves us more than we can imagine and keeps on loving us. But it isn't passive. Our hope is built on the promise of God, a promise that opens up possibilities  We hope for a better world, so we actively set about making the world better. Hope needs acting on