It has been a mixed week, both hard and wonderful. The wonderful part has been having time to watch the Olympics, but there has been a deep sadness overshadowing the week after the attack in Southport on Monday and the subsequent violence that has erupted in the streets around the country as some people have chosen to lash out with violence in response to violence.
Alongside this is the deepening crisis and conflict in the Middle East, all of which makes it unsurprising that many conversations with people this week have been about how helpless we feel at this time. In response to this, I have written this prayer for worship this week:
Here we are, Dear God
in this time and this place.
Be with us, for we cannot live without you.
Here we are, Dear God
in this week and this world.
Be with us, for we cannot live without you.
Here we are, Dear God,
on this day, with these friends.
Be with us, for we cannot live without you.
My thoughts have been around how we live as people of faith in our world, and of course, one way is to remember our need for God, as the prayer says. I have also wondered about what hope in the reality of our world and that is the focus of my reflection this week.
Hope is both a verb and noun: it is both something we do and a name for actions and words. We both hope for things and we do things that are hopeful and hope-filled. A Christian writer called Ann Morrissy says that hope isn’t a feeling but rather it is all the actions that are done that transform our world.
This week I want to share 3 hope-filled actions that can help us find a way to live as people of faith in the reality of our world. So let’s start with where we are as I invite you to reflect on something or someone that has brought hope to you in the last week or two. Hold onto that thought for a few moments and give thanks to God for it.
Once you’ve spent a few moments with that, think about anything that you might have done that will have brought hope to someone else. When we think about hopeful and hope-filled things we tap into our imagination and are reminded that the hard things are not the only story in our world. Thinking and talking about hope reminds us that it is possible to create a different way of responding and living in our world. Hope helps us find a different language.
The first hope-filled action I want to encourage is to remember not to respond to hate with hate. Now of course we might think that we never hate, and we probably don’t, but we do get close to it sometimes when we look for those to scapegoat or blame for the ills of the world. This is what has certainly happened this week and I suspect it has been encouraged by some powerful people.
However, as people of faith, I believe we have a responsibility to respond differently: in our hearts, in our conversations, in the choices we make and in any social media interaction that we have. It is a relatively small thing, but it can make a real difference, and it forces us to think before we react, which in itself can make a real difference to the way we live in the world.
My second hope-filled action comes from our scripture reading for today. Our reading is found in the 2nd book of Samuel chapter 11, verse 27 – chapter 12 verses 1-6 and tells the story of the prophet Nathan speaking truth to the power that is King David. King David has fallen in love with Bathsheba while her husband Uriah is away at war, and she is now pregnant. When Uriah returns the King conspires to get him sent back into battle, but not just any battle, but one where he will surely be killed, so that he can then take Bathsheba as his wife. It all works out just as David planned and he thinks he has got away with it, but the prophet Nathan challenges him and the powerful king is brought to his knees by the bravery of the prophet.
This is what it means to speak truth to power: to say what needs to be said. It is risky, but it needs to be done for the sake of God and all creation in a world where the powerful too often think they can get away with anything. When we dare to do it, or encourage others who have to do it, we are reminded that living as people of faith in our world today is not easy, but when we remember that perhaps we will be a little less surprised by the struggle.
My third hope-filled action is making space to be, in the words of Ann Morrissy, “lured towards God’s will.” In other words: prayer. Prayer is about connecting to that power beyond us. It is not about changing God, but it is about changing us. It is where we can listen for God’s still small voice and, again in the words of Ann Morrissy, “by listening well and listening long, alternative perspectives emerge that feed the imagination and challenge the dominant perspectives”.
Wow. Just imagine. A world changed by prayer because of how it changes us. This is something we need to make space for because we have to live in the world that is, but God is with us and making space to be lured towards God’s will is vital for living.
Another prayer for this week:
In all that this week has been,
in the gold and silver and bronze moments,
in the things that have made us weep and despair
God has been…
comfort for the sorrowing,
hope for the despairing,
strength for the competing,
joy for the celebrating.
And God has been with us, even when we have not noticed….
in friends and strangers,
in words and stillness,
in memories and future plans,
in beauty and in sadness.
For all this we thank you O God,
and open our hearts in praise.
Let us draw close to God and be lured towards God’s way and wisdom this week and always.
Rev Anne
