Three signs of hope - before breakfast!

I don't know about you but I sometimes find watching/hearing the news rather depressing. Of course I know the media tends to focus on the dramatic, tragic and violent end of the spectrum. But it can be hard to hold hope that there are genuine alternatives alive and well in our world.

I'm happy to tell you that I was immersed in three powerful signs of hope - before eating breakfast today! Here they are:

It was very cold this morning so when I woke up I decided to stay warmly in bed for a bit longer and listen to a You Tube clip of Brad Jersak speaking about Universal Hope. It was an excellent correction to the depressing end of the spectrum and had me getting out of bed smiling! He makes a thoughtful distinction between 'universalism' and 'universal hope'. His talk is 40 minutes long so choose a time when you can settle in.

If you happen to live in Auckland there will be a day with Brad Jersak at Trinity Cathedral in Parnell on July 20th. Click here if interested and scroll down in the events list. I highly recommend Jersak's book: A More Christlike God; A More Beautiful Gospel.

Next I did my usual quick skim on Facebook and came across a very exciting clip (4 minutes) of a range Church leaders in America offering a hope-filled perspective on what a Christian approach to life (and politics) means. This was stimulated as a corrective to what is currently being spoken about by the US President and many right wing Christians who often call themselves 'Evangelicals' but definitely don't offer good news. Click here  (another 4 minutes, wait a few seconds for video to load) to see how 2,500 people joined these leaders and marched to the White House to express this confession of faith which they called Reclaiming Jesus. 

Finally I turned to the book I'm reading currently as my "spiritual reading": The Great Spiritual Migration by Brian McLaren. I am up to a section about "social movement theory" - which sounds a bit daunting but actually turned out to be fascinating. Just one quote: "When institutions fail us... members of a community arise, organise and confront the institution by forming a movement. ...Movements organise people to articulate what's wrong with current institutions and propose what should be done to make things right."  This, it seems to me, is what is happening in the church leaders initiative, and by other groups mobilising to stand up for what is right. This gives me a lot of hope. Maybe having blatant disregard for honesty, human rights and justice daily "in our face" is generating enough awareness to give rise to positive change. May it continue to be so!

Even in winter...

Between the rainy, windy days 

there is still beauty 

if you go out and enjoy it!

One thing leads to another...

I love the way one thing leads to another.

Or to put it another way:

in the marvellous interconnectedness of all things

what I didn't even know I needed

pops up at exactly the right time.

A recent example:
A group from our church have been meeting to discuss a podcast series called The Bible for Normal People. 
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Two people talked about it to me.
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I don't go to the group but I thought I'd listen to one of the podcasts and started with the first one - Rob Bell on What is the Bible.
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 I was impressed with his animated and refreshing 'take' on reading the Bible so
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I borrowed the e-book from the library.

(The wonders of technology! I was reading the book on my iPad the same day I listened to the podcast - which was recorded in 2017. Whew! How quickly we take all this for granted.)

I was brought up on the Bible! 

I have read it devotionally, 

studied it theologically 

and written Bible study notes on it for Scripture Union. 

Yet I am freshly excited about the Bible right now -

thanks to: 

Rob Bell⇒those who recorded the podcast⇒the person who set up the church discussion group⇒the two people who talked about it⇒the technology that allowed me to listen and⇒borrow a free e-book.

Do you see what I mean about one thing leading to another?!