I could see my breath as I crunch, crunched through the autumn leaves to get the morning paper.  (wet again--curses upon you, paper delivery guy... okay, I didn't mean that, its a rough time of year for an early morning route, but since you bag them anyway, couldn't you fold or seal it or at least not aim for the low, puddled spot on the driveway?)... and as I read the anticipated headline, something stirred from within: "History" the paper proudly exclaimed!  Wednesday, November 5, 2008.  As I came back into the house, Christy asked, "Are you all right?" (a side effect of awakening hope evidently is moisture brought to the eyes...)  "I'm good"  I said, as she hugged me close, "I'm good".

There are many challenges for us all in the days to come.  Hope only endures and prevails when the people who shouted "Yes we can!" match words with actions, and what we know in the helping professions as a little "sweat equity".  Hope only endures and prevails as we lift up that which unites us in common purpose for the common good.  I do have an awakening sense of hope, and I don't want to lose it, not to my own or others' cynicism, or to difficult realities in our community, our nation, our world.  What happens when rhetoric meets reality?  Supporters and adversaries are asking similar questions... 

This is an anemic economy for church planters and fundraisers to be casting seeds of hope in.  In these days, people want something more than a promise of what could be... "give us a sign!" People want something solid, measurable, something tangible...  So do I!  Our slowly growing core group feels like a tribe of wanderers (somewhere between the "known" of "Egypt" and the promise of hope and a sense of home just over the next horizon).   Where will we meet?  What will we eat?  When do we have a sense of structure and stability?  How will we know when we have arrived? 

On the journey, in the meantime, we are growing a church through worship, mission, and community.  We are gathering together weekly for "Living Room" groups, gathering monthly for worship, and monthly mission opportunities in the local area.  We don't go to a church (building), we ARE the church!  We proclaim hope to all the world, God's Kingdom, on earth, as it is in heaven.  And our words need to be matched with our actions, and a little "sweat equity" to make hope for justice to roll down, for grace and love to ring true.  And slowly, noticibly only if you slow down and pay attention, the seeds of hope are awakening, and taking root, even in the midst of these waning days of autumn, even as the cold and crunch of winter greys over, even in the midst of the unknown, in the midst of fear, in the midst of change, the green of hope is budding...