There is Hope-Selah24-CMAW093

Hope - From Axis Culture Translater Premium Vol 6 issue 29 " Experts warn a second surge of COVID-19 deaths are imminent. Racial tensions continue to dominate the news cycle. Economic insecurity is trickling down into every sphere of life. It seems everything these days is up for grabs. Despair, darkness, and depression are dominating the cultural landscape and our interior lives. And yet, as followers of Christ, we are called to be people of hope in a hurting world, which, in hard times like these can only seem like "foolishness to the Greeks." But is it? If there is one lasting legacy you can leave with your children during this kairos moment in their lives, it might be this: We are a people of hope. But hope and good old-fashioned optimism are radically different things. While optimism is focused on a good future outcome or a pleasant change in our current circumstances, hope is a quiet confidence in the present based on what God in Christ has done in the past. As long-time missionary and theologian Leslie Newbigin once wrote, "I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead." Amen to that. For Newbigin and for us, hope is defiance in the face of fear. It is the often courageous task of staring reality in the face and still claiming that though evil, suffering, and death remain, they have already been defeated. Hope is standing in the valley of dry bones and daring to believe God will breathe life into them once again. Hope is mustering the courage to go to the tomb in the early hours before dawn, just in case. Hope is living as resurrection people in a dying world. Hope is joining God right here and right now in the renewal of all things. If Hell is hopelessness, then maybe a little bit of heaven is the realization that all over this tired old world, "hope springs eternal.""