Weekly Inspiration 7/30/2026

The word hope has become much debased in our culture of wishful thinking. We hope for all manner of things: a sunny day; to win the lottery; to recover from an illness. Hope has become kind thoughts, much like the thoughts and prayers of so many politicians. But there is nothing kind or wishful about Christian hope. For the followers of Jesus, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Br. James Koester

Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Hope

by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

        In hope we were saved.

         Now hope that is seen is not hope,

                   for who hopes for what one already sees?

         But if we hope for what we do not see,

                   we wait for it with patience.

                                —Romans 8.24-25

Behold this mystery: severed flesh knows how to heal.

Sundered tissues reach out for each other,

join hands, embrace, reweave a wholeness.

I know this. I trust it. This is my hope.

The sower goes out to sow in hope,

not with some magical power of wishing,

but the sure knowledge of how seeds work.

There will be setbacks, and a harvest.

Hope is not wishing for a certain future,

but trusting in the grace that is present.

Paul is wrong. I hope in God's salvation

because I do see it. It is already here,

the grace that spawns forgiveness,

the courage that seeks justice,

the love that reaches out, that risks boldly,

the patience that endures.

One may hope for something yet to come,

but we hope in something already here.

There will be setbacks, failures and disasters.

But grace is not future tense. Already present.