Faith, hope and love often are linked together, but hope may be the one least discussed. Hope in many religious traditions relates to hope for what happens after death. But do we need to look at death in order to have hope? Is hope in this day-to-day world only wishful thinking? If we focus on the here and now, why even talk about hope?

Rev. Bob MacDicken is in his 13th year as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley in Hickory, NC. He and his wife, artist Eileen Ross, are former members of UUFH and currently live in Black Mountain.