Prisoners of Hope

'Prisoners of Hope' is the title for the Synod Moderators' Report to the United Reformed Church General Assembly, due to start in Edinburgh on Friday. The report sounds the importantly optimistic note that life (and church) is full of hope and possibility. Putting it another way, there is always more to do. One of the notes the report sounds is of the need to branch out - Maybe we need to give ourselves permission more often to think the unthinkable; to go out on a limb, recognising when vision is being submerged in the principle of conciliarity, and to trust each other and open ourselves to the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit. Standing in the Reformed tradition it should be of no surprise to us that 'God has yet more light and truth to break forth from his word.' We can be bold. It's in our genes. There are some fascinating ideas there. Can we suggest - in a Reformed context! - that vision might be submerged by conciliarity. That seems to undermine one of our central modes of operation, and yet it is surely true. We need to recognise that God reveals the 'more light and truth' in a whole range of ways, some of which might just not fit our presuppositions. Are we ready for that? It's all bound up with being 'prisoners' of 'hope'.