My hope is to interpret the life and example of Jesus in a redemptive and relevant way. Each generation must do this with Jesus, lest it be forced into stale beliefs that strain credibility and diminish life. For the joy of Christian faith is not to be found in the...
In our zeal for mass conversion and standard strategies, we overlook the fact that evangelism requires far more than effective methods. The gospel is not a consumer product to be marketed by drawing from a strategic tool kit. People come to faith in Christ through a...
The darkest time in the year, The poorest place in the town, Cold, and a taste of fear, Man and Woman alone, What can we hope for here? More lights than we can learn, More wealth than we can treasure, More love than we can earn, More peace than we can measure, Because...
An angel appears to Joseph in a dream to explain the situation. When Joseph wakes, he must make decisions about marrying Mary and caring for her and the child. He acts on complete faith and trust. Acting on faith and trust is a tremendous challenge today. In our...
What are you hoping to accomplish with your life? When you get where you’re going, where will you be? If you spend forty years being a lawyer, engineer, salesperson, nurse, what will you have accomplished? If you’ve had only a job all those years, you may not have...
Christians…live and die in hope. The Christian virtue of hope transforms the virtues of aging… It is why elderly Christians can bear the sadness of memory without being overcome by it, and why they can insist on the truth of a story that challenges the ultimate rule...
Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. I’ve felt that many times. My hope for all of us is that “the miles we go before we sleep” will be filled with all the feelings that come from deep caring—delight, sadness,...
Hope reminds us that the way things are…is precarious and in jeopardy. Hope reminds us not to absolutize the present, not to take it too seriously, not to treat it too honorably, because it will not last. Because hope has such a revolutionary function, it is more...
Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.