Abstract:
The year 2001 was declared by the Dutch Reformed Church (N G Kerk) as the "Year of Hope". The author, chairperson of the church's Committee
for Reconciliation, Poverty and Moral Repair, reports on the preparations and the expectations for the Year of Hope. Hope, he contends, is far more than mere optimism, it is living in a close relationship with Christ, who indeed is our Hope, following in his footsteps in the world of today. The church's hope should be concretised in its kerugma (in preaching as well as in the development of a Theology of Hope), its diakonia (its service to the poor and needy, especially to Aids-victims and their families), its koinonia (the church being a preparing community, a sign and a sacrament of the Kingdom), and in its leitourgia (the way in which we offer our lives to God a as a living sacrifice to his glory). To illustrate his points, the author uses metaphors created by both Soren Kierkegaard and Lesslie Newbigin.
