August 5, 2026
I love our after worship conversations, most weeks we have them; and the past few have been focused on conversations from the book Holy Disruption. This past Sunday was no exception and very engaging. We spent some time talking/wrestling with hope and the meaning of hope- and how we feel about it. One of the definitions in the book that several of us noted:
“Faithful hope begins with a divinely inspired dissatisfaction with the way things are. Faithful hope is a future-oriented existence powered by a present, committed calling to see things made well here and now…”
It is what we are fond of saying in community organizing circles: changing the world from how it is; to how we want it to be.
I wonder, is doubt and despair simply the opposite of hope? I have to believe that it is more nuanced. It is complicated at times. Hope can be multifaceted. I do not subscribe to the “squishy” kind of hope. Hope takes courage to transform the world. As we, disciples like to say, “we are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.”
The church is changing and so are we…I spend a lot of time thinking, dreaming of the innovative ways to be “church” in this time and place together. From the book, I appreciated the reminder that, “the Church is not God.” The idea we are living into the abundance of God is often incomprehensible.
Like our spiritual ancestors, we should listen and continue to wrestle with questions about our community…and then risk, and imagine what is next. I daresay, are we becoming Holy Disruptors?
As I sat down to write this blog, I just returned from voting I can no longer put up with the reality as it is today. It is but one tool in our box. There are many actions we can take to make changes in our world.
For me, HOPE not a “fairy wish”—-hope needs a committed calling to do the work to change things toward the Beloved Community. It is a faithful hope – which is not exclusive of those who are not religious (and that would be a blog for another time).