Hope in the Present….Faith for the Future by Rev Christopher P Foustoukos

As I’m sitting down to write my message for the September bulletin, I realize that when folks are reading this our children will be getting ready to head off to school soon. So, I really needed some inspiration for a message to share with all of you and I came across this verse from Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

Hope and Faith are essential necessities for human beings; the spiritual nourishment for the soul and the heartbeat of the human spirit. They are as fundamental to our existence as food and water are to our bodies. Without hope, a person loses faith in the future. 

Years ago, a small town in Maine was selected for the site of a great hydroelectric plant. A dam would be built across the river and the town would be submerged. When the project was announced, the people were given many months to relocate. During those months, all improvements to the town ceased. No painting was done and no repairs were made on the buildings, roads, or sidewalks. Day by day, the town got shabbier. With a good amount of time left before the construction, the town looked uncared for and abandoned, even though people had not yet moved away. An old adage comes to mind: “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.” 

Someone once said, “Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future; faith is the courage to dance to it to day.” When your hope is grounded in Christ, nothing can shake or alter your faith. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, hope allows you to see the promise of to morrow with all of its possibilities, and faith gives you the courage to act upon it. May the new academic year be filled with new opportunities and may you have the courage to pursue them!

+ Fr Christopher P Foustoukos