Hope is not enough to survive this
Congregants kneel at the Communion rail at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu waiting for Pastor Lesley Radius with the Eucharist. Photo: Screenshot live by Gerald Farinas on April 2, 2025.
In 2008, Barack Obama electrified a nation weary from war, recession, and racial division with one word: Hope.
It was more than a slogan—it was a balm for the wounds of a country fraying at the seams. Millions believed, and millions voted. Hope was enough to carry Obama into the White House. It was a beginning.
But now, nearly two decades later, we must confront a hard truth.
Hope alone won’t save us this time.
As those who hit the streets across the country this weekend for the Hands Off! protests and demonstrations understand, America stands on the edge of something darker, deeper, and more dangerous.
The forces that rallied behind Donald Trump have not dissipated—they’ve grown more organized, more unrelenting, and more shameless.
What we are witnessing is not just a political battle. It is a moral reckoning.
We are facing a movement willing to upend democracy for the sake of power.
From the halls of Congress to statehouses across the nation, Trump’s ideology has left scorched earth in its wake—through voter suppression, white nationalism, anti-immigrant policies, the gutting of civil rights, and an unrepentant embrace of authoritarianism.
And in this storm, hope, while necessary, is not sufficient.
The Bible does not let us off easy with vague optimism.
It speaks not only of believing in justice but of living it out. James 2:17 declares, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (NRSVue).
The same is true of hope.
Hope without action, without justice, without confrontation, is dead.
Micah 6:8 reminds us what God requires, “To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Not to simply believe in justice.
Not to wish for it.
But to do it.
This is where we have fallen short.
Too often, liberals and progressives have waited for the arc of history to bend on its own.
But the arc does not bend passively—it must be bent, shaped, and sometimes broken and reforged by human hands committed to truth.
We can no longer afford to romanticize Obama’s hope as though it is a substitute for bold, uncomfortable action.
The country that voted for him also made room for Trump. And unless we confront the systems and structures that allowed such a reversal, we will repeat this cycle again—and perhaps next time, there will be no coming back.
We must look plainly at the ugliness metastasizing in our White House, in our courts, in our Congress, and in our state legislatures.
It is not enough to lament them. We must overturn them—through organizing, through protest, through policy, and yes, through the vote.
The prophets did not mince words when confronting corruption.
Isaiah 1:17 commands, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
This is not passive.
It is not poetic.
It is a call to action.
This time, we are not simply casting a vote—we are waging a spiritual and moral struggle for the soul of our nation.
We cannot treat this as politics as usual.
We cannot depend on charisma or slogans.
We need courage.
We need strategy.
We need to build movements, not just campaigns.
Hope lit the way in 2008. But now, in 2025, only righteous work will carry us through.
Hope must fuel our feet, not rest in our hearts. Because if we truly believe in justice, in freedom, and in the radical dignity of every human being, then we must act like it.
Hope? That’s not going to get us through.
Act.
Act now.
Act now like your life and liberty depends on it.
