Do you BELIEVE in Hope?
Do you BELIEVE in the unlimited, unrestricted, unbound, undefeated love of Jesus?!
Do you BELIEVE the embolden proclamation of Paul to the Romans; “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...NO (!) in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39.
Like the beacon for positivity, Ted Lasso, I too BELIEVE in Hope. If you are like most folks right now in 2026 you just might find yourself searching for where Hope is hiding. Of course, for me the Bible is foundational to my faith in having Hope, and I turn to Scripture as my primary source of Hope. I also find Hope hiding in many other places; improvised music, nature, poetry, books, art, and other people. Last Burnt End blog entry I shared the stories of two of those people: Daryl Davis and Adrianne Black. I now count Ted Lasso in that long list.
Although he is a fictional TV soccer manger, it sure seems like his character is finding Hope for so so many viewers. Thankfully, if you’re in need of a fresh expression of Hope, the sensational Ted Lasso is back – tomorrow- Wednesday 8/5! (AppleTV did not sponsor this entry, but we wouldn’t turn down a donation to FUMC Farmersville- the one in Texas, please and thank you, lol).
Since binging shows is the way lots of us now watch TV, if you’re like I am you’re going to get through watching the new season quicker than you thought you would. Then you might soon feel yourself looking for where you can find some more Hope. Reading daily devotionals is a great place to start! Consider finding a daily devotional that can become your ‘playbook’ for the goal of ‘scoring’ Hope each day. Here are some trusted resources:
The Upper Room ( written by church members of the UMC, www.upperroom.org or hardcopies available at FUMC), Notes for a New Day ( written by members of our own Horizon Texas Conference of the UMC, www.notesforanewday.com ), The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer (available for purchase at www.cokesbury.com ), Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation (meditations@cac.org ), and/or several more devotional books available to borrow from Pastor Brian’s office.
And if you are not a regular participant in our worship service, I’d be overjoyed if you’d be interested in watching my sermon from 7/19/26 “Groaning for Hope.” In which I use Habit for Humanity’s metaphor that Hope is a hammer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6c0CpGjZOE&t=2734s
I pray next time you feel as if Hope is hiding from you, that you turn to one of these ‘playbooks.’ I pray everyone can find faith in the undefeated love of Jesus. The victim of a wrongful death transformed into the ultimate Victor in the Risen Eternal Christ, who has already defeated sin and death.
And to anyone who ever feels like there is no Hope to be found anywhere, I pray with a burning heart of compassion that you take to heart what I BELIEVE down to the core of my being, and that is what transpired between Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning. I BELIEVE that on Holy Saturday Jesus- being God in the flesh- descended into Hell and proclaimed liberation to those in the pit of all pits. I BELIEVE that not only because the Bible and our Christian Creeds profess it. (For examples see 1 Peter 3:18-22, Acts 2:22-28, Ephesians 4:8-10, Hebrews 2:14-18)
I BELIEVE that because I have met folks who courageously share their testimonies about how Jesus raised them out up of their own pit of Hell. So if/when you or a loved one feels like they are in Hell, may you have faith and BELIEVE that not even Hell is offsides to Jesus! (That’s another thing I have in common with Ted Lasso, I’m still trying to figure out the rule of ‘offsides’ in soccer!) Thankfully since Jesus created the entire cosmological metaphysical ‘playing field’ of the summation of Creation, there is literally not a place God is not already actively at play. This is beautifully illustrated in Colossians 1:15-20.
Hope is also our eternal anchor dropped down from heaven to ground us in the real presence of the Liberating Christ: “…we who have taken this refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the Hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:18-20.