Next Retreat

Joyful and daunting opportunities to live into God’s dream of justice and beloved community are compelling and available. Hope is essential to the needed personal and social transformations that prepare us for such sacred opportunities. Yet genuine hope is often confused as merely wish fulfillment, optimism, or perceiving better tomorrows. How can we cultivate the inner resources necessary to work for change? Dr. Luther E. Smith Jr. and his new book, Hope is Here, prepares us to engage racism, mass incarceration, environmental crises, divisive politics, and indifference that imperil justice and beloved community. Hope is here for our “responsibility” and “response-ability” to live the fulfilling life that God dreams for us. On the subject, Luther writes: "we are at another moment where we desperately need to see and hear strong faith voices for justice for children and to spread examples of interfaith, interracial, multi-ethnic communities rising together above all voices that threaten to divide us. My parents and community elders had faith that we will reap a harvest at the right time if we do not give up and that love is still stronger than hate. I try every day to remember and act on their faith."