hope

I wanted to clarify something after my last post as I thought more about it this evening.  Two things.  One is that my hope in the face of suffering, although based in a future hope of when all things are made right (and I do need a future hope because the present problems are pretty daunting sometimes!), is also something realistic here and now, not merely an escape from reality.  It must be.  Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God - God's rule, the place where the reign of God as King is shown, where his laws are followed and his desires performed - and those of us in the Church have the privilege of being part of making that happen.  So medicine is part of that, bringing wholeness to people's bodies.  And so is loving people, making right broken relationships.  And so is prayer, aligning our hearts with God's loves.  And so is working for justice.  And so many other things...

Second, for the here and now, this is my hope for me, for that mother in her grief, for the many questions and problems I don't know about or can't solve.  From Romans 8:38-39, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  May that love spur us on to continue to care when it would be easier to be cynical, to work for the Kingdom when it costs us, and to hope with a strong and sure hope for the day when God's rule will finally and fully be made manifest in the midst of all evidence to the contrary.