Beacons of Hope: The Quest for Somewhere Solid to Place My Foot

We are living in very uncertain and challenging times given the pandemic of COVID-19 and the health and economic implications for many people and many nations. In times like these, we look for hope to keep us going. We also often find many simplistic answers in faith not helpful. This book does not seek to provide easy and shallow answers but rather to accompany you as you wrestle with the difficult questions of faith. Where is God in such times?
The book you are holding in your hands is a compilation of sermons that I gave at a time of transition in our church. In 2016, the Anglican diocese of Johannesburg made a decision not to recognize our small congregation as a parish. This decision thrust us into a very difficult process of just trying to survive. Later we found that we could develop our identity by being faithful to God as a small independent congregation. During this time, there were a lot of uncertainties and changes
in the political sphere nationally but also globally. As usually happens in life, we found ourselves as a family either facing or accompanying families that were facing major traumatic experiences. The theme of ‘searching for hope’ became an apt description of my deeper longing for some solid footing. I found myself oscillating between utter despair on one hand and brave hope on the other. The Scriptures became for me pointers of a living hope, a hope that allowed me to journey with the questions, a hope that refused to settle on shallow, simplistic answers. I invite you, therefore, to journey with me and the many companions you encounter in the following pages as we experience these Beacons of Hope. The stories told are raw. They are told in a conversational way so that you too can hear them as the first audience did.