Yesterday our Bible Study group was looking at the idea of 'hope' as it is explored in 1 Peter 1. We were invited to think about hope in adversity, specifically at a personal level. How has hope sustained us through suffering or struggle? I found myself pondering a more corproate view, however, that hope, or hopefulness, can have a communal expression, that somehow even if an individual feels lost or bewildered or afraid, yet the hope/hopefulness of ther wider community of faith sustains and supports them.
There's nothing especially clever about this thought, it is merely an expression of what it means to hold to an understanding of the priesthood of all believers or, indeed, the affirmation of faith used in creed saying churches that runs along the lines "this is OUR faith, WE believe and trust..."
I have a suspicion that the darker side of much individualistic Christianity is that it has the potential to leave us adrift when times get tough, to fill us with guilt when our personal hopefulness flickers or fades, to leave us isolated in our hour of need.
The old, school assembly favourite 'Lord of all Hopefulness' uses plural pronouns throughout in its request that God comes alongside and brings hopefulness (and other belssings) in the whole of life. Sometimes I think it is helpful to remind ourselves that we are in this together - that metaphors of bodies and buildings offer something valuable and vital about our life of faith which is less about individual piety and more about corproate hopefulness and trust.