Breathing hope

I have been writing a little about ‘hope’, both as the secure ultimate hope that there is another age that will swallow up this age, there will be a culmination to this age, there will be resolution to the issues we wrestle with here… and of holding on to hope within this age, while not looking for a utopia, to see visible signs that point to heaven’s greater realities.

It is very challenging to hold on to ‘temporal’ hope when there are so many issues unresolved. Stay within the four walls and of course it is easier… but read about those seeking safety not being allowed entry to a European port.

https://openarms.es/en

Open Arms… brave, courageous, risk-takers, lovers of people… working tirelessly to save people from danger with the wonderful statement on their home page:

All those lives we save in the Mediterranean aren’t numbers, they are people with a story and a voice.

So a comment on the big picture (as I with limited vision see it). We have moved from the hope raised by global relationships – end of the Cold War, Berlin Wall collapse, China becoming open to the market and capitalism, EU expansion etc… And of course all the downside of that with globalisation and global companies becoming more powerful than many states – witnessed to by who decides how much and where taxes are paid. The result has been one of the extremes of wealth and poverty, exploitation etc. However, there is a shift taking place with a pull back from the globalisation (as if this is possible!) to nationalism. ‘Make **** great again’ (insert whatever country you wish); close borders, claim sovereignty, new threat of cold war etc.

My big picture analysis could well be so suspect that a whole fleet of buses might just drive through it, but the other day as I was disturbed by this I saw it as being a breath in and a breath out. Not necessarily in this order, but a breath in for nationalism, breath out for globalisation. The breathing keeps the beast alive.

The conflict of interests is huge at this time… which way to pull, but it is in this season that we have to be ahead of the game. The current pull back will lead to re-alignments to push again for a global hegemony, probably we will see this becoming very visible in 15-20 years time.

And for ‘me in my small corner’ it has to be an embrace of an alien status, a refusal to let love for the land ever become nationalism, a use of any gifts to open doors of opportunities for others (come on we can push beyond Proverbs!).

This is such a creative time, and I suspect that the body of Christ has to move more toward the global in this season, and in a non-colonial way. Not global in that we are here to help you with all we know, but global in what can we learn so that we can partner with you? And this includes coming to serve the world – it is a time to learn. Certainly any pull back in this season will simply feed the beast – best not do that!

Perspectives