HOPE

HOPE

Consider a certain Friday night, a long confusion-filled Saturday and then an even more confusing Sunday.  This was the long night of the soul of the disciples and Apostles of Jesus.  Even though they were told he would rise, actually believing in the possibility must have come hard.  They stayed together for comfort and reassurance trying to hang on to their hope in him.    Then the women came with incredible news, and throwing caution to the wind they raced to the tomb with their hearts in their mouths.   He wasn’t there, but then where was he?  It wasn’t until he came to the upper room that the truth was known.  He truly rose from the dead.  

The message of Easter that proves, without doubt, that God has visited his people, is coupled with an equally important message;

Never, ever give up hope.

Jesus was all about hope. People driven by hope, streamed out on to the hills to see him, to hear him, and to seek his help. They returned to their homes filled with greater hope.  The idea that God loves indiscriminately and that his judgment is always tempered by compassion was the source of their hope and ours. 

Emily Dickenson wrote these lines: 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

The hope embodied in Jesus is what can sustain us no matter what is happening. 

We are currently undergoing a serious conflict between political policy and our innate compassion for others. Our reputation as a nation is under siege.  But we cannot despair because despair is the death of hope.  We have to believe in all that we stand for until things are righted and most important of all, never, ever give up hope.  Jesus trusted in God the Father and we trust in Him.  Like the disciples we need to hang on to hope. 

Let us pray fervently for an end to this crisis,

Carol Lemelin OPA