{"id":23724,"date":"2024-05-14T10:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T14:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23724"},"modified":"2024-05-14T11:03:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T15:03:15","slug":"23724","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23724","title":{"rendered":"Love Is Stronger than Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Elevation Worship - The Blessing (Lyrics) ft. Kari Jobe &amp; Cody Carnes\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mS0W4EsJJyE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Our great mistake is that we tie hope to outcome. \u2014Cynthia Bourgeault&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Brian McLaren suggests a<strong> continuing source of hope not dependent on the outcome:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we can see a likely path to our desired outcome, we have hope; if we can see no possible path to our desired outcome, we have despair. If we are unsure whether there is a possible path or not, we keep hope alive, but it remains vulnerable to defeat if that path is closed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When our prime motive is love, a different logic comes into play. <strong>We find courage and confidence, not in the likelihood of a good outcome, but in our commitment to love.<\/strong> Love may or may not provide\u00a0<em>a way through\u00a0<\/em>to a solution to our predicament, but it will provide\u00a0<em>a way forward\u00a0<\/em>in our predicament, one step into the unknown at a time. Sustained by this fierce love (as my friend Jacqui Lewis calls it), we may <strong>persevere long enough that, to our surprise, a new way may appear where there had been no way. At that point, we will have reasons for hope again. But even if hope never returns, we will live by love through our final breath.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put it differently, <strong>even if we lose hope for a good outcome, we need not lose hope of being good people, as we are able: courageous, wise, kind, loving, \u201cin defiance of all that is bad around us<\/strong>.\u201d [1] \u2026\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We feel arising within us this sustained declaration: We will <strong>live as beautifully, bravely, and kindly as we can as long as we can, no matter how ugly, scary, and mean the world becomes, even if failure and death seem inevitable.<\/strong> In fact, it is only in the context of failure and death that this virtue develops. That\u2019s why Richard Rohr describes this kind of hope as <strong>\u201cthe fruit of a learned capacity to suffer wisely and generously. You come out much\u00a0<em>larger\u00a0<\/em>and that\u00a0<em>largeness\u00a0<\/em>becomes your hope.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hope is complicated. But \u2026 even if hope fails, something bigger can replace it, and that is love.<\/em>&nbsp;[3]&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Choctaw elder Steven Charleston places love at the center of our hope.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key to stopping the environmental apocalypse is not science but love. For decades now we have been staring at the scientific reports. They have not sufficiently inspired us to change our apocalyptic reality. But where science has failed, faith can succeed. We must help humanity rediscover [Mother Earth], their loving parent, the living world that sustains them. We must help them feel her love just as we show them how that love can be returned. And it can begin by gathering people around two simple questions: Where were you in nature when you experienced a vision of such beauty that it took your breath away? And how did that make you feel? If you can answer those two questions, you are on your way to meeting the Mother you may never have known before. [4]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>===========================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The Subtlety of Seeds<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\">Our noisy world has abandoned the grace of subtlety. Some estimate we are assaulted by 5000 ads every day. They come at us from every direction as we move through the world. Each one shouting at us or demanding our attention. We are incessantly bombarded by so many messages that it has become increasingly unlikely for any one voice to get through. As a result, we feel the need to crank up the volume, excitement, and emotion of everything in the hope to communicate anything.<br><br>This applies to the church as well. What passes for \u201cworship\u201d in many places is loud enough to move one\u2019s internal organs if not one\u2019s spirit. And when one congregation\u2019s gathering gets predictable, we look for something bigger and more exciting to inspire us. Likewise, rather than the simple work of loving our neighbors and serving those in need, we put our hope in the next \u201cfaith-based\u201d blockbuster movie to reach the culture for Christ. <br><br>The problem, I suspect, is that while we prefer the spectacular, God is happy to work through the subtle. And while we think outcomes are based upon how God\u2019s word is\u00a0<em>proclaimed<\/em>, he knows the <strong>outcomes are actually determined by how his word is\u00a0<em>received<\/em><\/strong>.This is evident in Jesus\u2019 parable of the soils. He said the seed sown is the \u201cword of the kingdom\u201d which people hear. Seeds, of course, are tiny, nearly invisible things. There is nothing attention-grabbing about seeds. If we were in charge of determining how the word of God is spread, we\u2019d prefer fireworks, synchronized music, and a laser light show\u2014something spectacular that is likely to produce equally spectacular outcomes.<br><br>But the point of Jesus\u2019 story is precisely the opposite. The <strong>outcome is\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0dependent upon the seed, nor the technique employed by the sower to throw it. Instead, it\u2019s all about the soil that receives it. <\/strong>We want to believe that the effectiveness of Christ\u2019s ministry resides in our strategies or spectacular gifts, but Jesus knows there is a far deeper mystery at work. One that is hidden from our sight and far beyond our control. Therefore, the <strong>Lord is quite content for his word to go forth in subtle, unspectacular ways even if we are not.<\/strong><br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=dbfba684f5&amp;e=f52fc38132\">MATTHEW 13:1-9\u00a0<br>MATTHEW 13:18-23\u00a0<br>1 KINGS 19:11-13<\/a><br><br>WEEKLY PRAYER.     From Clement of Alexandria (150 &#8211; 215)<br><br>Be kind to your little children, Lord. Be a gentle teacher, patient with our weakness and stupidity. And give us the strength and discernment to do what you tell us, and so grow in your likeness.May we all live in the peace that comes from you. May we journey toward your city, sailing through the waters of sin untouched by the waves, borne serenely along by the Holy Spirit. Night and day may we give you praise and thanks, because you have shown us that all things belong to you, and all blessings are gifts from you. To you, the essence of wisdom, the foundation of truth, be glory for evermore.Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our great mistake is that we tie hope to outcome. \u2014Cynthia Bourgeault&nbsp; Brian McLaren suggests a continuing source of hope not dependent on the outcome:\u00a0\u00a0 If we can see a likely path to our desired outcome, we have hope; if we can see no possible path to our desired outcome, we have despair. If we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23724"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23724"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23728,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23724\/revisions\/23728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}