{"id":618,"date":"2017-09-27T12:27:19","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T16:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/?p=618"},"modified":"2017-09-29T01:11:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T05:11:14","slug":"holding-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/holding-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I want to write about lovely things. I want to write about birdsong and dappled light and soft breezes. I want to write about dreaming large. About deep connections. About justice persisting and that \u2018slow arc\u2019 bending.<\/p>\n

So I will.<\/p>\n

The book of Revelation was written in a time the Christian community felt hopeless. The were rounded up, persecuted, imprisoned, and murdered. Not unlike many religious communities in history. The kin-dom, the shalom they believed Godde would bring about was crushed under the political heal of the empire. Communication between churches was suspect so leaders wrote and spoke in metaphors when referring to their current situation. They referenced dragons and bears and destruction. They sent present news in future tense.<\/p>\n

For the past however long I have been writing about bears and dragons, destruction and fear with scattered glimpses of hope.\u00a0Today I will take another cue from the writer of the Book of Revelation and fling a little hope. No matter how bad things are, we cannot give up hope or we will lose our souls.<\/p>\n

The writer (supposedly John) offers this brilliant hope expressed as sacred literature anywhere:<\/p>\n

The Book of Revelation 7: 14b-17 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>\u201cThese are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.<\/p>\n

15\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For this reason they are before the throne of Godde,
\nand worship Godde day and night within the temple,
\nand the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
\nthe sun will not strike them,
\nnor any scorching heat;
\n17\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
\nand will guide them to springs of the water of life,
\nand Godde will wipe away every tear from their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

So today I write what I need: reason to hope or, at the very least, reason not to lose hope.<\/p>\n

The dream humanity has for a world where there is no hunger or disease, a world of justice and compassion is not a vision we can abdicate. No matter how bad things are, we must not give up hope. It is imperative that we continue to believe in our ability to overcome, to co-create, to bring that vision into existence. Imagine what might replace that dream should we lose it. \u00a0Without a passion for justice and a vision for compassion, \u00a0without hope, our spirits will be crushed by despair.<\/p>\n

So today and every day do the work of hope. Do one thing that could make a difference when added together with all the other one things folks are doing around the world. And listen to birds sing. Gaze at light streaming through tree branches. Dream big. Reach out to one another. Demand justice. Offer hope to the hopeless. Accept hope from the hopeful.<\/p>\n

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I want to write about lovely things. I want to write about birdsong and dappled light and soft breezes. I want to write about dreaming large. About deep connections. About justice persisting and that \u2018slow arc\u2019 bending. So I will. The book of Revelation was written in a time the Christian community felt hopeless. The … Continue reading Holding Hope<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,7,13,21,23,25,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}