Reclaiming HOPE

“It’s not a police issue, it’s a society issue. You know, impoverished neighborhoods, people without hope do these kinds of things. You show me a man that doesn’t have hope and I’ll show you a man who’s willing to pick up a gun and do anything with it.” —Eddie Johnson, Police Superintendent of Chicago [from Chicago Tonight’s Special Edition “Violence in Chicago” September 20, 2016]

Join us at our midweek prayer meeting this Wednesday, October 5, at 6pm where the readings will explore the theme of reclaiming hope.

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Surely there is a future, and our hope will not be cut off.
—Proverbs 23:18

Hope: An opportunity for our community

The Christian Science Monitor has recently brought its insightful perspective to our hometown’s challenge with violence. Both online and in the July 23rd magazine, Mark Guarino’s reporting “Chicago: heat and homicide” offers a clear overview of the situation.

At the close of the article, one particularly poignant comment caught this reader’s eye, “The violence is largely spontaneous and out of control. It’s triggered by all sorts of unrelated events,” says John Hagedorn, a criminal justice professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago  who studies gangs. “The whole policy discussion is not dealing with the long-term problem, and that’s the inability of people to have hope.”

HOPE.  What is it that gives you hope about our city? How have you been praying and acting differently in light of this opportunity?

Share your hope-filled comments here (click on “leave a reply” below) or come and share your insights at our Wednesday Testimony Meetings which begin at 6:00 p.m.

“What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love!  More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have.  This sweet assurance is the “Peace, be still” to all human fears, to suffering of every sort.” – Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896