Lively Hope – by J. Daniel Day

What this episode covers

Exploring hope through thoughtful meditations that distinguish between our life-hopes and our hopes for the world, Day guides the reader through understanding the phenomenon of hope, hope’s many challenges, and our literary view of hope. Many of the anxieties racing through us are not wed to current events or twenty-first-century novelties. Apprehensions have always been nibbling at our peace, dangling us over “the drop edge.” Perhaps, as someone has suggested, it’s not that things are getting worse: rather, they are just getting uncovered. Yet, there are moments when what is within us meets dilemmas and demands that are beyond us, moments when we must choose hope or wilt in despair. Today feels like one of those moments. And this is a book about this moment and that choice. The book’s main title comes from scripture, specifically from the venerable 1611 King James translation of 1 Peter 1:3, which says God has “begotten us again unto a lively hope." So, this is a book about hope, but it is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise. These are but meditations upon chosen aspects of hope about which the author hopes will say something helpful to readers. “I want to explore lively hope, the kind that sings songs in the night and stares down long odds in clear daylight, the kind that dares to dance before the fiddler has even picked up his bow and won’t stop talking until the right has been done," Day writes. "Anything less isn’t worth your time or mine.” Learn more at GoodFaithMedia.org.

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