Week Five

Holding on to Habitats of Hope

So, having sought hope as nest builders, tended it as harvesters, lived it as dwellers, and cultivated ecosystems to nurture it.

How do we hold on to habitats of hope?

As this theme draws to a close we take inspiration from different habitats to think about the breadth and depth of the hope that God calls us to.

SEEDS TO SOW: IN ISAIAH 55 THE TREES CLAP. WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD MAKE TREES CLAP AND CHEER?

Read Exodus 1: 8-22

The hope of women, labouring in the desert.

Shiphrah and Puah — given an impossibly cruel task in an impossibly cruel time — somehow foster a habitat of hope through their ingenuity. Habitats of hope can and do sometimes blossom in the midst of dire circumstances.

What do you think sustained Shiphrah and Puah and sparked their hope?

Read Exodus 2: 1-10

Rivers and survival.

Rivers have always been crucial to human survival — offering a means of sustenance, travel and for information to flow.

What did the river represent to Moses’s mother? To Moses’s sister? To the Pharaoh’s daughter. Think about both before and after the incident described in this reading.

Read Romans 12: 1-8

Our bodies, our biomes, a living sacrifice.

Thinking outside the box here, the human body is a habitat both literally and metaphorically for the microbes and thoughts, hopes and dreams that inhabit us.

How can we ourselves be habitats of grace? Places where God’s kingdom flourishes?

What traits do healthy ecosystems need to flourish and how can we apply some of those ideas to ourselves?

For instance to sustain life habitats need water and light…