The Gospel of Hope

Thought for the day on the nature of gospel hope:

Hope is not optimism, rather, hope is the audacity of faith under adversity. Hope is the cheering in triumph for what others deem a lost cause. Hope expiates the misery of life. Hope is currency in the land of melancholy. Hope is the dancing when the music has long ceased. Hope is bread for the soul that is starved. Hope is the voice that whispers to us that “all things are possible.” Hope is the grace to face our fears knowing that there is someone greater than the sum of all fears. Hope holds out a light rather than curses the dark. Hope is the physician of a terrified soul. Hope is the hero of the weak. Hope is defiance in the face of the tyrant. The gospel is story of the invasion of hope into a world that knows only despair and doubt. The gospel tells us about men and women doomed for a hopeless end discovering in Christ Jesus an endless hope. Hope is that shameless confidence that Jesus Christ is he who said he is and his promises to us are totally trustworthy. If so, as Käsemann puts it: “True theology … has to remain a pilgrim theology under the message of the gospel as a promise for the whole world – a theology of hope.”