The emotional rollercoaster we have been living through is hard to explain. My prayer is that you and your family are safe and have taken some time to reflect about life and what matters most. If the impact of a global pandemic has not caused you to revisit the deep questions of life and what you believe, maybe something deeper is going on. 

Like many of you, I have spent the past few months trying to be present in a caring way. As a dad and a husband, I have tried to show my family that there are many things to be thankful for. We have also tried to pray regularly for doctors, leaders and many on the frontlines who are trying to make a difference. But another part of my role has been to help people as they wrestle with questions about God. Do you have any of those?

As a pastor and spiritual leader in the city, I have been trying to help people focus on the spiritual, internal parts of our lives; our thoughts, fears, dreams and passions.  Just imagine; there will likely never be another time in your life when you can readjust your schedule and commit to what will matter most in the way you can now. Over the past few months Google has reported an increase on searches about prayer. That's a good sign. Have you been praying?

True spirituality is about making time to think about how our beliefs impact who we are becoming. This always overflows into the way we treat and care for others. Over the past while, this time of isolation has led me to conversations with people who are starting to rethink their beliefs in God. As is true of many religions, belief requires we explore the theme of hope. Hope is about believing in a promise now, while waiting for it to be fulfilled at a future point. All people who make a positive impact must at some point grow in their understanding of hope. Here are three things we can all learn together right now.  

Hope is an action
Hope should fuel you to do something. In fact, how you live and how you act are a measure of how hopeful you are. To be honest, I have times where I just wait around, as I’m sure we all do, and my kids are good at that as well. But let’s take gardening for an example. I can “feel” hopeful all day that tomatoes or grapes will grow in my garden, but I have to add action to that. I have to go and plant seeds so that these fruits and vegetables will arrive at some future point. What life seeds are you planting now that will start to grow in a few months? Hope requires action.

Hope requires discipline
Hope can only develop in people who prioritize daily disciplines. When I was young, I hoped to be a famous hockey player. As you can tell from my current vocation, that didn’t pan out! The truth, however, is that my discipline didn't match my feelings. It has been said that nothing of great value is ever accomplished without great sacrifice. If there is one thing this crisis has taught us, could it be that many of us have sacrificed for the wrong things? Maybe completing every task or making it to every activity isn't the point. The kind of discipline that builds hope teaches us to say no to the things that won't matter in the long run. One discipline might be to embrace that a deeper commitment to family starts with a stronger commitment to faith.  How might making time for God, prayer and maybe worshipping within a community help you grow in a new ways?

Hope is a person
Hope will remain a feeling that comes and goes with the wind if we don't understand one last thing; hope must be embodied and made visible. In other words, hope must be connected to real life. I recently visited a family in the hospital. As I left the family said, “Pastor, you gave our family some hope.” That just hit me. While I'm not special, I do believe that when we show up to care, hope comes alive through us as people. 

The greatest example of this living hope, at least for Christians, is found in the life of a person called Jesus. One ancient text reminds us; “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is... set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3;1,2) Jesus embodied hope by pointing to the things of God.

I want to invite you to pray a rather radical prayer; that things never go back to normal. Sure, we might get back into a routine and life might reassume certain rhythms, but I encourage you to consider this season of change and struggle as an opportunity to focus on hope.

My prayer is that this kind of hope helps you prioritize the things that really matter. If this crisis has taught us anything, it’s that if “the daily grind” is the only thing keeping our lives grounded and meaningful, then going back to normal is our worst nightmare. May the shift the world is living through be what we all need to hope, love and believe with a new perspective. It's time to hope our way toward something more.