Hope Never Disappoints

Nancy Tondy
Jun 30
2 min read

July 15, 2025

Grace to you and peace from our beloved Creator God.

A young person attending a music festival expressed to me a sense of hopelessness as she heard the crowds of young people cheering and shouting about ‘death to the enemy’ in the context of winning a war. Scared and horrified, she questioned how she could be hopeful about the future when there was such a lack of thinking among the crowds, leading to such a poisonous message being chanted.

How are we to answer this cry from the heart? How can we inspire our young people to stay hopeful? Perhaps it is time for the wisdom of the elders to be spoken and shared more loudly. You may have been thinking it is time for a rest, let the young people continue the struggle, you may be feeling you have done your share and want to lay down the yoke. But maybe that time is not yet, it seems. The wisdom that comes from time and age and experience. Knowing that things change as time passes, that Truth, Beauty and Justice are gifts to be treasured which enrich the soul, and above all, that the strongest energy in the universe is Love. That wisdom is needed for this world, for hope to flourish.

Jesus died when he was 33, what could he know of the wisdom of age? Unless we take into account the Trinity, the ageless God of before time began? Ah yes. There is great comfort in sinking back into being supported by that ageless wisdom. Trust in the source of your wisdom as well as your years on the planet.

Will the words of this message be heard? Who knows. They were heard before. Maybe that’s part of our faith and hope, that what we are being asked to do requires only for us to step forward into the task. Like Mary. Like Peter. Like Paul. Like the Samaritan woman at the well. Like Phoebe. Like Ruth.

What we are called to do is ‘walk in Christ’. Recognizing and giving thanks for the many blessings of our lives. And giving witness and spreading hope in the way we talk and act and relate and bring peace and strength to every encounter. And praying constantly for our faith to grow because that is where our hope is rooted.

And doing all this joyfully.

Song for Reflection: We Rise (lyric video)

Batya Levine; 2020. Permission to stream music obtained from One License and Christian Copyright Solutions. Video editing and mixing by Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb.

We rise, humbly hearted

Rise, won’t be divided

Rise, with Spirit to guide us

Rise!

Refrain: In hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here

In hope, in prayer, we’re right here (x2)

We rise, all of the children

Rise, elders with wisdom

Rise, ancestors surround us

Rise! R

We rise, up from the wreckage

Rise, with tears and with courage