When hope is not enough

At the beginning of a secular New Year following from a plethora of disasters both manufactured and natural one thinks of turning towards hope of a new start and a new beginning. What happens though when we believe that hope is not enough, when even the hope in Christ becomes a failing belief that brings with it despair and depression? If we are to believe some we need to turn to courage to make a difference and yet courage on its own will also turn to despair and depression when we fail and fail again and again to correct the course of our lives. Courage can only take us so far before it to turns to burn us with despotism and failure. Just as with all of the other marvellous things that we believe may buoy us in times of despair and trouble. Concepts that have been created to encourage and embolden so that we can overcome what ever is in front of us creating the obstacles to a satisfactory life.

In looking into the depths of the faith journey of those who are deemed great, in whatever religious or faith bound field we find ourselves aligned to, we can see one thing above all others that is congruent in their lives. The one thing that is present through out these famous peoples lives is not that they have hope or faith or courage or whatever. It is that they combine all of these traits into the lives that they live. Hope cannot be useful of itself unless t has courage to support that hope in the doing of things in the face of adversity to bring that hope to fruition. Faith cannot walk on its own without being involved in the practical details of a lived life that interacts and brings about community and love. We are fooling ourselves if we believe that only courage or only faith or only whatever will make a difference. The histories of our faiths throughout the world are littered with examples of these attributes combined together to produce that which is great and closer to God.

In the face of devastation hope, courage and faith show us the way forward

In the debates and controversies that have been had over climate change, politics, fire storms and the church we need to remind ourselves as Christians what it is that we want in the coming year. There is a need for courage. Courage to stand up for what God calls us to be and do. However, the question that is perennial is What does God want us to do? In the face of this or that emergency, calamity or situation which we are facing at this moment in time. Often it is a matter of our own interpretation of our own belief and faith set and we can blame everything else on the shoulders of others as they do not conform. This is a typical reaction. Each and every decision we make in the name of our faith bears with it the consequences of that decision on the lives of those we interact with not just ours. This is why we need courage. We also require hope. Hope along with courage lifts us up over the obstacles that are placed in our way. The decisions and the consequences of those decisions must be aligned with our hope for the betterment of our community and the drawing closer to God. Not for something that is idealistic but something that our courage can lift us to.

It is our faith that binds us into the covenant of God and God's presence in our lives as we walk that road which enables our community to live in peace and love which is God's. Only then can we truly bring all facets of our lives into the harmonious whole that is God. Not by placing one thing above another but rather in bringing our all into God, our courage, our faith, our hope, etc. In this coming secular year, the start of a new period in our lives, may we know how to bring about a wholeness of spirit and life that celebrates God's presence whilst we build God's love into our communities with compassion, faith, courage and hope.