Be the hope, weave the present

Lento pero viene (Slowly but it is coming)
El futuro se acerca (The future is approaching)
Despacio, pero viene (Inchmeal, but it is coming)

In this poem, Uruguayan journalist and novelist Mario Benedetti wrote about how the future is coming slowly but surely. It vindicates the future that we dream of and builds on the progressive note of what is yet to become in dreams realized and seeds sown. Though the future as hope remains in the “not-yet,” Benedetti illustrates the signs of this approaching future. This slow pace in the expectation of what is to come, also irks with the desperate need for justice today. As I reconcile the slow progression of a dreamed future amid evils that portend despair, to be the hope, la esperanza no se hace de la vista larga; hope does not ignore the present. This approaching future is made in the present. And the choices we make today bring our future closer.

Lento pero viene (Slowly but it is coming)
el futuro real (the real future)
el mismo que inventamos (the same one we invented)
nosotros y el azar (we and chance)
cada vez más nosotros (more and more us)
y menos el azar (and less chance)
(Benedetti, “Lento pero Viene,” Cotidianas:1978-1979, 1979)

As I pay attention to the struggles of our world, hope in the future of humanity cannot exist in the abstract. Hope in the abstract becomes an illusion that forgets humans have agency in the construction of a just and flourishing world. Hope in the abstract puts the responsibility of hoping on those who are suffering, as if hope could be outsourced, by continuing to only ask, “Where do you find the hope?” Hope needs to be integrated within ourselves. We need to ask how we can participate in or witness a hopeful future.

During the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada's General Assembly on 13 July 2025, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay delivered a keynote speech. Inspired by the denomination’s affirmation of being a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world, he challenged his listeners to dare to hope and become these signs of wholeness the world needs. Hope in the future, dares to participate in the present. This kind of hope is what I, in my scholarship, call a sustainable hope. It is a move to call out the material realities that oppress and stifle creation. So, the ties on the ground can aim at hope's “not-yet,” accordingly giving us a path to move towards by weaving practices of justice. A sustainable hope is one that takes and works with the realities of our surroundings and persists by cultivating that which makes us flourish and do good. It is a hope that I can sustain and sustains me in the face of what seems impossible. Dr Pillay called for a hope that materializes in the labor of justice and care. He emphasised the church's responsibilities to address sexual and gender violence, to recognize the harm in the exclusion of queer siblings, to expose the harms to the earth and climate change, and to denounce the violence in Gaza and towards the Palestinian people. Dr Pillay reminded us that the work we are called to do is not measured by the quantity of followers but by the witness of hope and justice the Gospel calls upon.

During this assembly, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) passed several resolutions in response to its Christian call towards justice. Following the path charted by the World Council of Churches, more specifically, the denomination passed the GA-2571 Affirmation of the World Council of Churches call to “End Apartheid, Occupation, and Impunity in Palestine and Israel,” and of solidarity with the Palestinian people as we struggle for an end to genocide. Standing in solidarity forces hope and future casting to view the present and respond to it faithfully. Learning to distinguish the idolatry of neocapitalism, supremacy, and power exposes the ways we are laced within what hinders a just future. Remaining silent and passive becomes a choice provoking someone else’s demise and ultimately our own. Clarity on what ought to be our present in the face of violence and injustice draws us closer to the future by becoming that which we hope for.

Dr Pillay's invitation to look closely at the many marks the churches around the world are leaving shows us the possibilities of how to heal injustice and fragmentation. This call to hope and imagination seeks to align the church with God's love and mercy for all creation. I, for one, dare to hope by practicing solidarity and fearlessly weaving the fragments of the present that call on a future slowly approaching but blooming with justice, joy, and mercy.