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The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.
Hope is a tricky concept to grasp and yet it is right there in the list, that Paul gives us, of everlasting things (1). It is therefore interesting to see how hope is embedded in those symbolic actions that are/were part of the Church’s life.
If I focus on hope, it is not to neglect faith or love, but just because I find hope hard to sustain in the face of everyday life. Especially the kind of hope we are called to have : God became human and has lived our lives, he has washed our sins away, there is an eternity to be spent with Him, He is with us always, He is generously giving himself to us everyday and for ever(2), He is victorious… the list of all the things that we are called to hope for is very long and it is hard to figure them out.
Baptism and eucharist break through the realm of the understandable and bring us into God’s kingdom. They are powerful reminder of God realities, of the existence of a Godzone (3) in our world. Because Jesus paid for all our sins, I can actually pray for my city, my province, my country with hope. Because he is coming back, I can face whatever trouble arise and know that this is not the end of the story.
(1) 1 Cor. 13:13
(2) Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time : Forming Spirituality through the Christian year. Grand Rapids : BakerBook, 2004, p.59
(3) Michael Riddell, Godzone, a traveller’s guide, 1992.
