Dear Friends,

I've been thinking about hope lately--Mostly because my independent study for my Post-Master's Certificate program at the New School is on the role of hope in change leadership. I always loved the idea of hope.

What I didn't realized is that there are official definitions of hope from a social psychology point of view. Researcher C R Snyder talks about hope being an element of willpower and an element of waypower--namely hope both manifests as a sense of agency or self-efficacy, and manifests as a sense of pathmaking or direction.

All this makes me read a lot of these resurrection stories in a new way. Jesus keeps reminding us "you are witnesses," which is a way of saying "you've got this, people!" And Jesus also gives plenty of way advice--including things like " go make disciples, " or "I am the way" or "wherever two or three are gathered in my name I am with you."

In the end, hope is the church. Hope is the practice of seeing the story of new beginnings, and the community that holds and weaves hope when we as individuals cannot.

So in some sense, the mystery of resurrection is all about hope.

Hope to see you soon!

Blessings,

Susan