Topic: Hope

When Jesus says “I am,” he’s not just making a claim — he’s pulling a thread that runs from a burning bush through a valley of dry bones to a man walking out of a tomb.

Isaiah 35 declares joy and courage and gladness, for those stuck in the wilderness and dry lands.
Joy for the weak hands, the feeble knees and the fearful hearts.

Hope is a courageous and active stance towards life which is nourished in those who attend to the voice of God in Scripture.

The coming Christ will do whatever he can to get through our defences.

In order to find our way into the good news of life in all its fullness, we need to first stop denying and distracting ourselves from the bad news we are drowning in.

Christ’s story – the crucifixion of the truly good and its resurrection and coming victory – is the whole story of God’s work in the world and the whole story of the Bible.

Jesus wants to heal us from all that would diminish us, and he also wants us to cooperate with that by really wanting it and envisioning ourselves free.

The whole story of the universe, from creation to ultimate redemption, is held in God’s hands and revealed in the crucified and risen Christ, and all our stories are gathered safely into that larger story.

We wait for a Saviour who will bring the Kingdom of God – a kingdom of which we see many foretastes and which we strive to live for in the here and now.

The call to love our enemies is not a new law to slave at, but a call into a culture of love so wild and free and strong that no one can hate it out of us.

Celebrating God is not to be a denial of reality, but a faith-filled reaching out for a new reality.

If the message of Christmas is real, then our preparations for it need to be radically life-changing.