The Hard Work of Hope

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation. - Romans 12:12

There’s a reason that Paul added the second phrase about tribulation to his rosier first statement about hope. If we are going to have true hope, that means we’re going to have to face the difficulties of the world head on. Sometimes it can feel like people wield hope as a magic wand, to pretend the world isn’t seriously f****ed up. Yet scripture somehow holds on to both - that our world is seriously broken and yet there is good to be held on to. Listen in to this theologian who is reflecting on his time in a concentration camp after being taken captive in WWII:

Hope cuts two ways: on the one hand it provided the strength to get up again after every inward or outward defeat; on the other hand it made the soul rub itself raw on the barbed wire, making it impossible to settle down in captivity or come to terms with it. - Jurgen Moltman

Are there places in your life (or in the world at large) where it’s hard to hold on to hope that goodness could come? Are there places in your life (or in the world at large) where it’s easier for you to have hope? What do you think the difference is between those two for you? Consider what it might be like to encounter someone else who listed those same two areas but in opposite order - imagine what it might be like to have a conversation with them. See if you can turn that into a prayer.