Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you. (1 Peter 3:15b)

Today's reflection is by Kari Jo Verhulst,
Lutheran Chaplain at MIT and Pastor at University Lutheran Church

Have you heard this passage before from First Peter? Growing up in a deeply Christian environment, I certainly did. Usually it was to cajole us in being ready to “witness” to our faith, and it make me panic. I wasn’t sure I could “defend” myself—I had enough trouble on the playground, and in the realities of childhood and adolescence I didn’t always feel hopeful.

But it got better. (Isn’t that the hope of growing up?) Now I take these words as an invitation to pray for the grace to hope when I feel hopeless. When I do feel hopeful—in big (love will conquer hate) or small (spring will finally show up) ways, I take this as a call to silly-grinned freedom in the face of anyone who might demand to know: “What are you smiling at?” I smile, laugh, love, and hope because I have seen, heard, touched, and tasted the love of God in Jesus—in bread and wine, and lots of potlucks; in song and prayer, and endless conversation; in silence and rest.