I said in my sermon on Sunday that hope is a “crouched tiger,” confident that, even though we may not see the specific outcomes we desire on the timetable we want, Jesus will respond to our longings for goodness and justice, transforming our scarcity and shame into abundance and celebration.
I know it’s difficult to hold onto hope in these days, to stay ready to act when we see signs of new life. To that end, I wanted to offer a few resources that may be helpful:
- Hope is Crouched Tiger (a written version of my sermon from Sunday, if you’d like to go over it in a different form)
- The Spirit of Hope, by Byung-Chul Han, a book that I’ve found profoundly helpful right now (and from which I got the Erich Fromm quote about hope being a “crouched tiger”)
- “A Brief for the Defense,” by Jack Gilbert: the full poem I quoted from in my sermon
Let’s also continue to stay connected to one another as Christ’s Body – in Table Groups, DNA Groups, worship, on our church group chat, etc. Being a Christian is not an individual sport. We need one another to maintain hope and stay ready to act in solidarity with the most vulnerable in our midst. Let’s keep receiving and offering ourselves and our gifts in love.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Ben
