Dangerous Hope in a Dangerous World

Hope is tricky.
We both want it and fear it.
We don’t want to lose our hope.
Hopeless living is barely living.

But we’re equally afraid of “getting our hopes up.”
We somehow seem to believe that hope is essential but as it grows, it becomes increasingly vulnerable.
High hopes are easy targets in a dangerous world.

Hope seems to be both a blessing and a burden in our global village.
In a dangerous world we have to keep hope alive, but we cannot let it grow too large less we risk the pain of it shattered hopes.
Does this really work?
Is this the only option?
Is a moderate size hope our greatest hope?

A moderate hope will keep you from dying, but it will not usher you into joyful living.

In a dangerous world there is a natural tendency to downsize our hope.
In a dangerous world, the most hopeful goal is to survive and to make it through a news cycle without seeing or hearing another round of tragedy and violence.

Our heads and hearts are running out of space to store and process the names, numbers and images that should not be. Human hearts do not have unlimited capacity for violence and destruction. It is difficult for hope to survive in the presence of ongoing horror.

It takes a very unique and special strain of hope to persevere through deep sorrow and real suffering. This is not the kind of hope that skims the surface with slogans and platitudes. It is not a hope that weaponizes our anger, hurt and loss into a counter attack against an identified group who we now call an enemy. It is a deeper and better strain of hope and it is dangerous.

To hope for peace and healing when the bullets are flying and the blood is flowing may seem foolish and naive.
It may seem reckless, childish and even dangerous.

But what if we could live in a dangerous world with a dangerous hope.

How does hope become weaponized for good?
How does it become dangerously good?
Dangerous hope is not distinctive because of it’s size but because of it’s source.

A dangerous hope would give us more freedom and less safety.
It would require us to see the brokenness in ourselves and not just our enemies.

A dangerous hope would expose us to disappointment and to loss and to betrayal and to failure.

A dangerous hope would not protect us from hurt, it would invite us into and beyond the hurt.

A dangerous hope would ask us to believe that broken things can be restored,
that wounded people can be healed and that love can and will outlasting hate.

The world is dangerous, so let’s get our hope on.
Let’s look, let’s pray with our eyes open
and let’s bring a little more heaven to earth.