What did John the Baptist, Samuel, Jonah, Moses, Paul, and Elisha all have in common? Hope. 
As we continue our “Done by Hope” annual focus year, we take Epiphany to engage with the stories of some notable Biblical figures – each of them from a different time, a different context, and each of them having different expressions of hope for what God is able to do.
In considering the stories of these different figures, we can reflect on the reality that we all have different hopes. Our hopes are bound to time and to circumstance. Because of that, our hopes can look vastly different. But since God is not bound by circumstance and time, He can provide us with a singular hope that will fulfill all of the hopes of the world. It is shocking in its singularity, but in Christ, all our disparate hopes are fulfilled.
We continue to encourage you during this time to consider your hopes for yourself, your hopes for the Church, and your hopes for your neighbor and the world. As you engage with these hopes, you join the hopeful stories of John, Samuel, Jonah, Moses, Paul, and Elisha. As they looked forward in hope for things to be realized in their time and beyond, so do you.
As you engage with hope, your imagination will empower your action, and your action will create a story of hope for what is to come. You will find yourself having done things by this hope, and you will have stories of your own hope to tell. As you tell these stories, you may realize that it is not the doing that is powerful, but rather, the hope. And you may further realize that this hope that we have in Christ is powerful enough to do all things.