on hope

Hope is a curious thing. Whilst it is possible to feel hope (or hopeless) about a given situation, hope is more than just a feeling. Sometimes it is possible to be floundering about in the dark - holding onto the hope that something is happening even though you are not entirely sure you really believe it.

I think hope needs to be an active thing - I don't really buy that you're doing much hoping that your car will start when you turn the key. Mostly we don't think about that kind of thing - we just expect things to work and are a bit surprised when they don't.

You might 'hope' there is a space when you need to park the car, but this is rarely more than slightly urgent as is usually a very temporary feeling.

No, hope that things can get better is something that grips you from the insides, something that when everything else is lost you still have. When that kind of hope is truly lost, all is lost.

A tale of two churches

In a particular part of Coventry, there are two churches along a short section of road in an area with a high percentage of ethnic minorities.

Church A decided a few years ago that it wanted to buy a new building. Somewhere along the line a difficult decision was taken. This was that in order to build money would need to be obtained from various development grants.

The result is that the church has a shared building. In the lobby is a cafe. There is a community nursery, two classrooms for teaching English to people who need to improve. A computer classroom. The body of the church is regularly hired out to community groups for various events, classes, talks, social activities and the like.

On the wall is a quote from Shawshank Redemption. Yes, you heard me correctly. A quote from Mr S King - the famous horror writer - sits comfortably alongside similarly painted bible verses.

The church, of which the congregation amounts to around 100 people, is closely involved in the organisation which runs the building - and members regularly volunteer and run low key outreach events in the community in different ways. A staggering 38 people work for this organisation. An organisation that would never have existed if a church had not decided to stick its' neck out and force itself to be involved in the community and face the consequences.

As if to underline the difficulties, I was told that there is some conflict between the church and other groups who want to use the building.

But the main impression is of light and hope. The building projects the idea that church is in community, is involved, is open and ready to serve.

Church B has a large privet hedge around 75% of the circumference of the building, shielding the windows from prying eyes. A 6 foot gate barrs the entrance with an obvious coil of barbed wire around the top of it. The overall impression is of a community under siege.