Yesterday was Easter Sunday. Many Christian churches had various kinds of services or programs in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Most service messages were also pointed to this resurrected One from death to rebirth. Among them Pope Benedict XVI’s Easter message would surely catch the world’s attention. In his speech message,  he claimed that hope is urgently needed around the globe in times of turmoil and despair. “”. . . violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope.”

What is hope? How will we rediscover hope? What can we find hope? In 1 Corinthians 13:13  it is written, “Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest o theses is love. Hope comes between faith and love. Faith precedes hope and hope brings about love. If we don’t have faith and this faith lies in Jesus Christ, Son of God, how can we have hope? And what kind of hope do we have? Hope in ourselves, in one person, in one government or in others?

If we do have hope in Christ, we will find a settled rest and it doesn’t matter where we are or whatever circumstances we face. In fact, we need “rediscover the grounds of hope” and  redefine the meaning of hope as well.