In the 8th century, bad futures were on the horizon for the Northern kingdom of Israel. But even as geopolitics were about to turn against Israel, the prophets cried out that things had been going badly for people in Israel for years. In the news this week, we saw cries on college campuses that things have not been going well. Violence in Egypt, Lebanon, Kenya, and Paris reminds us that the future is always uncertain. But God reminds us that even when we have failed, and even when we are facing terror and exile, even when we have ignored the cries of the oppressed, God's love does not waver, and there is hope for the future. There is hope that we may live into that love and God's hope for us.

(for copyright reasons, we are not reproducing the image used in worship, a photo of the shrine to Adel Termos by Reuters photographer Hasan Shaaban)