“Hope is fear after it has prayed.” I heard The Nun on the Bus speak this week in Asheville to a sold out crowd in a local auditorium. She responded to a question from the audience with this quote which she attributed to Al Franken. Today the stock market took a deep dive. Investors were feelling besieged by fears all around and behaved defensively. Isis, Ebola, Russia, the significance of the coming election and the political disfunction all around us, the startling climate changes and foreboding forecasts for the future, etc. etc, etc. We are surrounded by threats -not a very hopeful time. We are standing in the need of prayer! The world is standing in the need of prayer. Prayer reminds us that we are not alone in this scary world, that God is with us. We can share with God our fears, and listen for God’s call to us to be a part of helping the world and all that is in it to become what God is creating it to be. The vision of God’s will for this creation and the faith that God’s power is at work always and everywhere drawing us toward that vision can help us take a deep breath and feel again the power of hope at work in our spirits. Thanks be to God!