Welcome, friends, to Hope Is Here.
This page is your weekly hub for everything you need: the video teaching, a written summary, and a discussion handout for your group time. My plan is to have each week’s materials posted by the end of the day on Friday, so you can look ahead before the week of your discussion.
You can engage the content in whatever way fits your life and learning style: watch the video, read the summary, and or read along in Luther Smith’s book, Hope is Here: Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community. Each of those will help you come to the conversation grounded and ready.
When you gather, the weekly discussion outline is meant to be the primary way you organize your time together. Think of it as your group’s shared path: it keeps the conversation moving, makes room for every voice, and helps us stay connected to the practices that shape hopeful people.
I’m grateful you’re here. Hope doesn’t require perfection or high energy, just presence and practice, together.
As always, if you have questions, please reach out to me at sjordan@fpcasheville.org.
Week One–Hope Is Here: Not Mood, Not Optimism, but a Force of God
Week Two–Hope’s Work and the Witnesses: Invitations, Stories, and Resistance
Week Three–Contemplative Praying: The Listening, Discerning, Engaging Heart
Week Four–Prophetic Remembering: Truth-Telling, Responsibility, and Neighboring
Week Five–Crossing Identity Boundaries: Hospitality, Embodiment, and Mutual Healing
Week Six–Transforming Conflict and Celebrating Community: Hope with Stamina