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Hope

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”
Romans 12:12, NRSV

When a loved one is ill or in the hospital, we sometimes talk of hope, and that hope is they will recover and be back to the state of good health they were in before the illness or injury. This sort of hope is our human and earthly hope, and is different from the hope we receive through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While we are experiencing loss of health in a family member or close friend, we look forward with hope to recovery, restoration of health, and when we will be able to spend time together as we did in the past.

However, when that loved one does not recover, but dies, where is the hope? What do we do with the hope we had?

That is when we look to the words of scripture to understand the hope we are given is not about our limited experience in this earthly life. We read in Peter 1:3, 6-7, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

The hope about which we read in scripture is the hope of everlasting life; it is the hope of being reunited with our loved ones when we move on to eternal life with Christthat sure and certain hope given in the resurrection of Jesus.

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (BCP, p.102)
The Rev. Lisa R. Neilson
Associate for Pastoral Care and Women's Ministries
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