Main passage: Romans 15:1–13

Key verse: Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.”

Sometimes hope needs company.

There are seasons when we can carry our own hope quite well.

We can see possibilities.

We can imagine things getting better.

We can pray with confidence and look towards tomorrow expecting that somehow God will meet us there.

And then there are other seasons.

Times when hope feels heavy.

Times when somebody says, “It’ll be all right,” and we aren’t remotely convinced that it will.

Times when even praying feels like hard work.

Perhaps that is when we need somebody else to carry a little hope for us.

Paul begins this chapter by talking about bearing with one another.

He writes about the strong supporting the weak.

About not simply pleasing ourselves.

About building one another up.

And then, towards the end, comes this beautiful prayer:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.”

The God of hope.

I love that description.

Hope isn’t something we have to manufacture.

Its source is God.

And perhaps sometimes God gives that hope to us through another person.

Think about the people who have done that for you.

Someone who believed in you when you didn’t particularly believe in yourself.

Someone who saw possibility when all you could see was a dead end.

Someone who sat beside you when there were no useful words.

Someone who prayed when you couldn’t pray.

Someone who said:

“I’m here.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“We’ll take this one day at a time.”

Sometimes those are holy words.

We often imagine encouragement as saying something profound.

Usually it isn’t.

Sometimes encouragement is a cup of tea.

A message.

A lift somewhere.

A meal appearing at the door.

Remembering an anniversary that might be difficult.

Making somebody laugh.

Sitting quietly.

Turning up.

Again.

Hope often arrives wearing very ordinary clothes.

And perhaps that’s because when life is difficult, grand speeches aren’t usually what we need.

We need presence.

Paul’s words are not addressed to isolated individuals trying desperately to remain hopeful on their own.

They are written to a community.

People learning to live together.

People carrying one another.

There is something deeply Christian about that.

We don’t have to hope alone.

There may be days when my faith is strong and yours is struggling.

I can carry some hope for you.

There may be days when I cannot see much beyond the next hour.

Then perhaps you carry some hope for me.

That’s community.

That’s church at its best.

Not a gathering of people who have everything sorted.

Not people competing to look the most faithful.

Just ordinary human beings reminding one another:

God is still here.

This month we have travelled through grace, mercy, love, peace and now hope.

By this stage something becomes clear.

None of these gifts is meant simply to stop with us.

We receive grace and become gracious.

We receive mercy and show mercy.

We are loved and learn to love.

We receive peace and become peacemakers.

And we receive hope so that, sometimes, we can carry hope into someone else’s darkness.

Maybe there is somebody in your life who needs that today.

You don’t need to fix their situation.

Please hear that.

Carrying hope for someone does not mean pretending you know how their story will turn out.

It doesn’t mean promising that everything will be fine.

It certainly doesn’t mean explaining why God has allowed something difficult to happen.

It simply means refusing to let them stand there alone.

Perhaps your prayer becomes:

God, they can’t see very far ahead at the moment. Help me stand beside them until they can.

There is another lovely detail in Paul’s prayer.

He asks that God would fill people with joy and peace so that they might overflow with hope.

Overflow.

That’s a wonderful picture.

Hope received becoming hope shared.

Enough for me.

And perhaps, today, enough to spill over towards you.

A Question to Carry

Who in my life might need me to carry a little hope for them at the moment?

A Simple Practice

Choose one person today.

Send a message.

Make the phone call.

Drop something round.

Pray for them.

Don’t try to fix anything.

Simply let them know:

“I was thinking about you today.”

Sometimes that is enough to let a little light in.

Prayer

God of hope,

thank you for the people
who have carried hope for me.

For those who stayed,
listened,
prayed
and reminded me that I was not alone.

Show me someone today
who needs that same gift.

Give me wisdom not to offer easy answers.

Help me simply to be present.

Fill me with your joy and peace
until hope begins to overflow
into the lives of others.

Amen.

For today: Carry hope for someone else.