St Paul, who also lived through challenging, dark times, himself, wrote to his sisters and brothers in Corinth: ‘12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.’ (1 Corinthians 13)

We surely do not yet perceive and comprehend all God’s work clearly, but regardless, we are sustained by the interconnected Christian virtues of faith, hope and love, of which the greatest is love, because it will always abide, universally and eternally. Even when faith and hope are no longer necessary, in the full abundance of heaven, love will continue to connect the entirety of the communion of all the saints – all who have believed.

But this does not diminish our deep need for hope and faith in the here and now.

In a series of joint worship services with a Protestant church here in Groningen on the works of mercy of the unconsciously kind and godly ‘sheep’ described in Matthew 25, we recently reflected on visiting the imprisoned. And this came shortly after the honor I had of licensing two gifted lay readers in Brussels, Grace and Eric, who, alongside Father Charles, also offer pastoral ministry to prisoners in Belgium.

In times where many in society have been suffering isolation, such ministry and the pastoral skills they have grown in, to support people who, for other reasons, have been locked away, are so inspiring and informing. They accompany those who struggle to find hope and faith, let alone love, and they compassionately offer them all three of these virtuous gifts and much more.

As we consider hope, we need remember how vital is to cling to hope, and also give it to each other, even if, as St Paul notes, the things we hope for we do not always have or see, since otherwise our hope is too small and easily satiable. Greater hope should always look ahead to God’s promises. ‘24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.’ (Romans 8)

We all need God’s hope, as well as patience and perseverance. And it is a generous Christian offering to share sincere hope and caring support for others, as these are wondrous works of encouraging mercy to all who so desperately need sustaining.

The Revd Dr John Polkinghorne, a theoretical physicist and Anglican priest, persuaded so many intelligent fellow scientists to think beyond what they could empirically observe. He contended that Christian hope, founded on the eternal promises of our trusted Creator, was something distinctively different from mere optimism or wishful thinking. ‘Neither of these attitudes is the same as hope, which neither tries to predict the future from the present nor neglects the constraints that the reality of the present imposes. Christian hope is open to the unexpected character of what lies ahead precisely because it relies on the faithfulness of a God who is always doing new things.’ (Living with Hope, 2003)

On such new things, I remain stunned and inspired by the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16, having been falsely accused for provoking riots, then attacked, beaten and whipped, and incarcerated in chains in a prison dungeon in Philippi. And yet, despite all this horror, in their imprisoned isolation, they still prayed and sang out, such that others heard, and, including their jailor, even came to faith as a consequence!

What Paul and Silas and our prison chaplains brought and bring to others is an example for us all: though we may not see where hope leads us, we need always have faith in the unparalleled hope that God gives us, and also share the light of Christ with each other in whatever darkness we inhabit.

Christ, the Light of the World, is not just the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light that gets us through the tunnel. And we need share this light with each other along the way.

Blessings to you and yours,

Sam