Rescue hopes

Recovery and rescue workers still hold out hope that four miners, missing since Monday's explosion in West Virginia which claimed the lives of 25 others, may have reached a safety zone. The families of the victims are very much in our prayers, and we pray, too, for the discovery of survivors. On a web page I saw a photo of a backyard children's gym with a hand-painted sign that read, "Praying 4 the Miners." Yes, we all are.

In this week following the Easter celebration, there is still tragedy in the world, still injustice, still hunger and disease. How can we disciples claim Christ's victory over death when it is evident that there is so much destruction all around? We do so, not because we refuse to see the oft-tragic realities of life, but because we see them quite clearly. We hope for the rescue of surviving minors, yet our hope extends beyond the crises that arise on a daily basis around the globe.

As the hymnwriter has put it, "Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." And this hope, St. Paul teaches, does not disappoint us. It is an abiding hope, an eternal hope, a hope that forms a constant underpinning for our capacity to face the circumstances of life. Because Christ lives, we too may live. Though we die, yet we shall live in him always.