Where is hope to be found?

Our church vision is expressed very simply: to transform the community with HOPE. Whilst that vision resonates deeply with me, there are times when I question whether it is possible. Is it a pipe dream? Is it even vaguely attainable, when every aspect of society seems to rail against it?

There has never been a time more vital for Christians to be strong in their faith. The intense media fascination with George Pell and on-going allegations of church cover-ups reinforce a perception that the church is no longer needed. In fact, I am all for bringing into the light what was in the darkness, and there have been horrendous things take place which rightly bring aspects of church life into disrepute.

Yet this is also taking place alongside radical social reforms being introduced into schools and society which are, in my view, revolutionising previous norms of gender, sexuality, relationships and family. Where this will lead us in years to come, who can say, but they present new issues for the church to work through.

So I ask, where is hope to be found? In what ways may we be placed to bring transformation?

Ironically, I think the church is well-placed to be such a hope. Yet it won’t come cheaply. It will require a commitment to Christ and one another which is manifested by grace, goodness, and the honouring and respecting of all people. It will be church as community, a community of ordinary people who place at their centre the love of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah tells us, “stop trusting in human beings, who have but a breath in their nostrils” (2:22). The idolatry of our day is that we think humans have come of age and can bring in their own perfect society. But this will crumble. The Psalms tell us, “unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain” (Ps 127:1).

There will be many hard times to come, Jesus warns us of as much, yet as human systems fail and disappoint, there is a hope that we can still offer, which no human event can destroy. May we live already, here and now, as that community of hope, through the quality of our life together. Phil