Hope...

Have just had our Church Theology Group, today discussing Kenneth Wilson's book: Learning to hope: the Church and the desire for Wisdom. It led to a wide ranging discussion: what is hope, what do we mean by the word, what do we hope for?

As ever, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and I have been left with the familiar sense of wishing there was time to read more and think more. I think a lot already, but having something concrete to grapple with, even if it does send my head spinning around various theological and life themes, is always a good thing... a very good thing!

So what is hope? Hebrew 11: 1 (in various renditions here: Hebrews 11: 1) talks about faith being hope in what we cannot see, but not of hope itself. Here, as we see, to what we might hope in.

Can hope stand alone? Can hope only be in or for something else? And what if we have no hope, does this mean that there is nothing we hope for or in?

And to live without hope - some do, I am sure. And this must be so desperately hard.

If you are living without hope, then I hope (and pray) that there will be some small thing that lights your life today and gives a glimmer of light in the darkness.