We focused on the word "hope" on Sunday as heard God's assuring words of promise and faithfulness. We considered the need for hope in this seemingly hopeless world of recession, Mumbai violence and the trampling of each other at the gates of Wal-Mart. I just started John Dear's Put Down Your Sword: Answering the Gospel Call to Creative Nonviolence and was greeted with encouragement in one of Dear's opening paragraphs,
As I study the lives of the saints and peacemakers, I discover that they turned a deaf ear to the bad news, that they listened close to the good news, and that they even worked to generate more good news. They lived in hope because they did hopeful things.
One of the best ways for me to live in hope is to do hopeful things. I can't fix the world, but I can do one hopeful thing at a time.
