On our shared Lenten journey this year, we celebrate the importance of both character and virtue and the way in which they shape and guide us as disciples of Jesus Christ. This week we will be focusing on the gift of hope.

Hope is central in our calling to follow Christ. We are called to share one faith, and to be of one soul and mind. We have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit and are baptized with one baptism. We are to be obedient to one Lord, work for one cause, and share one hope. (Confession of Belhar)

The beauty of Christian community is that we called to share one another’s burdens and to celebrate one another’s joys.

Hope is one of the virtues that highlights the necessity of friendship. I believe hope is best practiced in the joy of Christian friendship and love. The beauty of friendship is the ability to share life, all that it has to offer, both the joys and the challenges. Friendship offers you the opportunity to lean into one another when you become discouraged and lose hope. Friends let you lean — they hold hope when you cannot.

Oh, the hope that a friend can bring.

I was reminded of this recently as I introduced my grandson Kai to the stories of Winnie the Pooh. As we shared in the delight of Pooh and his friends’ adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods, I saw through Kai’s eyes the simple joy of a friend. Who can help but smile when Winnie the Pooh reminds us that: “A Day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.”?

Winnie the Pooh and his friends teach us about life, love, loyalty, and friendship. They teach us that we need each other, and that is a good thing.

Hope can survive in a world where we have friends. Friends help us see possibilities that otherwise we might miss.

As we celebrate the gift of hope this week, give thanks for the people in your life that you call friends. Give thanks that we need one another in life and in community of faith. Give thanks that we have been called to share one hope, one calling and one faith through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.