Hope

At the end of Acts, the gospel’s message reaches the imagined ends of the earth, the city of Rome. Here Paul prepares to plant the future of the church, a community built on the extreme hope of Christ’s message for all people in all times.

When the winds shift and the inevitable storms of life come our way, how can we navigate them in ways that bring beauty and hope instead of darkness and despair?

Suffering often creates crisis, but crisis can be an invitation to clarify the sources of our hope. Isn’t life about more than survival? How do we find a life rich with purpose, even and especially in the face of suffering?

The Advent season reminds us of the coming of a brilliant light that meets us in our darkness. This source of hope, Jesus, offers us presence and wisdom in a way that brings powerful healing and restoration.

Should the church be a place that welcomes outsiders? In this remarkable story, we see Christianity crossing geographic, cultural, ethnic, and national boundaries. But that’s only part of it. It’s also the story of a man who was spiritually curious yet had almost certainly been wounded by religious people.

The church’s inclusive invitation and exclusive truth claims have prompted resistance from religious and secular alike. When it comes time to prove the power of this message, however, the ancient church’s evidence is the same as ours: healed lives.