Where is Hope?

He’s God, our God, in charge of the whole earth. And he remembers, remembers his Covenant – for a thousand generations he’s been as good as his word.  Psalm 105:7-8 MSG

 

As we listen to the news each day, our hearts break with the suffering and injustice in the world. Where is the hope? Where is God in the midst of it all? And what is God’s call to those who love and follow Jesus Christ? Scripture is clear that “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.   God loves this broken world (and its hurting people) more than we can imagine. And God calls each of us to love it too, and to be the hands and feet of Jesus bringing healing and justice and peace where these things are so desperately needed. The following prayer by Sarah Bessey says it well:

God of herons and heartbreak,

teach us to love the world again.

Teach us to love extravagantly

knowing it may (it will) break our hearts

and teach us that it is worth it.

God of pandemics and suffering ones,

Teach us to love the world again. 

God of loneliness and longing,

of bushfires and wilderness,

of soup kitchens and border towns,

of snowfall and children,

teach us to love the world again.

Amen. 

Francie Winslow