Joined in hope

As times of uncertainty, disconnection and isolation remain, I find myself clinging to what connects us – HOPE.  Hope has lingered among us for the past 12-14 months like a prize within our reach at the end of a race but we are still running toward the finish line. Hope for an end to this ever-raging pandemic. Hope for a return to being physically closer to family and friends. Hope for a rescued economy. Hope for less death and more healing. Hope for justice – like a broader and more fair distribution of a vaccine.

Daily Morris and I hear from Salvation Army leaders across the Caribbean through a What’s App group.  Covid cases in Antigua are multiplying and Barbados is in national shutdown. French Guiana and Belize face similar dilemmas. In Jamaica, cases spike upward and the country confronts increased violence. We lament the high rate of murders since the beginning of 2021, including the sad manslaughter of five homeless men in Kingston.  On the other side of the island, a 51-year-old woman was shot and killed over a family dispute in the Agape Christian Fellowship church during a worship service.  So tragic.

This morning I sit in quietness as the day dawns. We get a text from the Divisional Commander in Haiti, deeply concerned by the political unrest in that country, pleading for prayer. Government leaders are refusing to abide by a democratic process – the right of humankind to vote for a party of their choice to lead their nation. The situation is complicated, and tensions are high.  Innocent lives adversely affected with an economy already severely compromised as the most impoverished nation in the Western hemisphere.  Now a President refusing to step down is causing more upheaval. Sounds familiar. Haiti now faces a looming crisis that will once again place the poor and most vulnerable at higher risk. Basic human needs not readily accessible for many. While the pandemic seethes on, so does other hardship.

All of this – and more – bring us to our knees and deepens our cry for HOPE.  Globally, we are joined by a longing for a world where things are ‘made right.’  So much is out of our control but we must not give up. We need each other now more than ever. Through love and support and connectivity, we join in each other’s realities. We pray for each other. We encourage one another. We share strategies and we listen deeply. We use technology to stay together.  We look for beauty and wholeness even while we lament over what is sad, ugly or unjust. Hope requires patience – not our best quality in an instantaneous world.  I contend we need it as we keep looking to see the possibilities we long for, and while we wait, let’s be alert to how we can serve others and help ease our neighbour’s misery. 

At a recent virtual meeting with our Territorial Executive (leaders across the Territory), they shared how the Commands remain focused on mission in a chaotic time. One leader told of a new initiative called “The Giggles Café,” a new effort to reach unemployed young women, providing a yearlong life-skills opportunity for females between 14-35. Creativity in mission and being others-focused stirs hope forward!

As we join in longing for better days, let’s pray (and act), holding two hands out to God.  Like a balance scale weighing the good and the grim, the fair and the unfair, the joy and the sorrow, the mourning and the dancing, let’s lean steadily into our common HOPE based on God’s promise to us. “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save us.” (Isaiah 59:1).  God is with us and will help us.  What we have now is not what always will be. So, “as we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:25)

Lord, hear our hope.