Hope and Prophetic Imagination

Since 'hope' has become a bit of a buzz word in this world in which we live, I was struck by these words on the subject from Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination. He is basically looking at what the Old Testamen prophets, in the tradition of Moses, have to offer those of us seeking to be a prophetic voice today. For Brueggemann, true hope is truly subversive to the status quo. Okay, onto the quote:

Speech about hope cannot be explanatory and scientifically argumentative; rather, it must be lyrical in the sense that it touches the hopeless person at many different points. More than that, however, speech about hope must be primally theological, which is to say that it must be in the language of covenant between a personal God and a community. Promise belongs to the world of trusting speech and faithful listening. It will not be reduced to the "cool" language of philosophy or the private discourse of psychology. It will finally be about God and us, about his faithfulness that vetoes our faithlessness. Those who would be prophetic need to embrace that absurd practice and that subversive activity. (p. 65, italics mine)

Into what and whom do we place our hope? Brueggemann insists that hope grows in the most unlikely places, places of exile and anguish, and it can only come from the one who stands in freedom from the restraints of the cosmos, the Lord God Almighty. It's a beautiful thing.