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Reflections from our Pastors
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Hope? Faith? Love?
One of us recently said that we need hope now more than anything. So, the question comes to mind: What is hope? In Life Beyond Doom by Brian McLaren, chapter 4, Hope, ends this way: “It depends on how you define hope. Hope is complicated. But writing this book is helping me to see that even if hope fails, something bigger can replace it, that is love.”[1] (book author’s italics)
Let us pray: God of Love and Compassion, you are Reality that gives us hope.
The disruption, chaos, protests, and extreme government forces in Los Angeles show us the energy behind the violent intentions of the Empire to control through oppression. In Life Beyond Doom Brian McLaren attempts from the very beginning to wake up those of us who are in denial at the seriousness of pending global destruction, which means local destruction. Now, nationally, we may be forced to choose where we put our energy as our own citizens are attacked by police and National Guard, not to mention those of us who are in the U.S. illegally and are accosted to the very depths of all humanity every day.
Let us pray: God of Love and Compassion, you are Reality that gives us hope.
A daily column, A Public Witness,[2] written by Brian Kaylor refers to Sunday as ‘Pentaccost’, as in accosted.’ Quoting the Los Angeles United Methodist Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, “I am calling on all Christ-following people, and on all tenderhearted people, to stand with those who are being ripped apart from their families…March in peaceful protest…Be witnesses on the streets so that the horror does not happen under cover…I am calling those in power to remove their weapons of warfare from our loving neighborhoods, our peaceful cities and our welcoming states. Use your power for good, and not for evil.”
Let us pray: God of Love and Compassion, you are Reality that gives us hope.
Brian Kaylor quotes Walter Brueggemann, biblical scholar, “The Book of Acts begins in Pentecost…” [reading ‘The Book of Acts’ with ‘Acts’ as a directive as well as a noun, makes us feel, how?] “…So in the book of Acts the early Christians were regularly hauled into court to appear before officials of the Roman Empire because the status quo Roman Empire feared the inbreaking of the transformative power of gospel people…Everything felt topsy-turvy where Jesus had come; the old patterns of control and certitude no longer worked….We are in a like situation…This is a time when the people of Jesus are coming to terms with the odd identity because the gospel, mandated right there in the book of Acts, is to turn the world right side up. The wind [of Pentecost] unleashes a mighty force into the world that the old powers of status quo never welcome.”
Let us pray: God of Love and Compassion, you are Reality that gives us hope.
It takes effort to stay in that liminal space of Acts, neither here nor there, and continue to hope. Here is hope, faith, and love from Choctaw elder, Steven Charleston:
The signs are all around us. We can see them springing up like wildflowers
after the prairie rain. People who had fallen asleep are waking up.
People who had been content to watch are wanting to join.
People who had never said a word are speaking out.
The tipping point of faith is the threshold of spiritual energy,
where what we believe becomes what we do.
When that power is released, there is no stopping it,
for love is a force that cannot be contained.
Look and see the thousands of new faces gathering from every direction….
We are surrounded by love.” [3]
Let us pray: God of Love and Compassion, you are Reality that gives us hope.
Yes, let us pray, hope and love,
Pastor Jane
[1] McLaren, Brian D. Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart. Book. New York, NY: St. Martins Publishing Group, 2024. Chap 4. p 85.
[2] Kaylor, Brian. Pentaccost in publicwitness.wordandway.org June 9, 2025.
[3] McLaren, Brian D. Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart. Book. New York, NY: St. Martins Publishing Group, 2024. Chap 4. P 84
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