In the film ‘Anchorman’ there is a scene where Ron Burgundy is telling his news team about his newfound love for Veronica Cornerstone. He pauses as one of his team reflect on their experience of love. Then “Brick”, the not so bright weatherman, feels he has to say something too. So he looks around the room and says “I love carpet” then “I love desk” and finally “I love lamp”. When Ron questions whether he really loves the lamp, Brick reaffirms with increased passion “I love Lamp. I love Lamp!” It’s an incredibly funny scene, but it’s also fundamentally sad. Brick’s experience of love is nothing like the real thing. There so much he’s missing out on, so much he fails to understand.

It seems to me that it’s possible for our experience of Hope to be like Brick’s experience of love. We look around the room for anything to which we can attach our hope to. Family and friends, our career, our sporting team and sadly, even money and possessions. Yet HOPE is so much bigger than that. Real hope transforms us, challenges us to be our best selves. Hope gives meaning and purpose, even in the darkest moments, and shapes the way we see the world around us. Above all, HOPE allows us to see that change is possible. That I, the people around me, and the world in which we live, can change for the better.

As we approach Easter, I wonder if you have ever thought about Hope and how it relates to your work with Baptist Care SA? For me, in many ways, we act as agents of hope. For each and every client Hope is what we offer, the possibility of a better, happier, healthier and more meaningful reality. In fact, Baptist Care SA is possibly best described as being in the hope business, and creating and empowering the substance of that hope is our primary output. Our distinctive difference is that we achieve this by working with South Australia’s vulnerable and marginalised, providing programs that work with clients to help them find a safe place, housing, better mental health or fullness of life.

Of course, it’s not surprising that this is the case. As an organisation with strong ties not only to the Baptist Movement but also to the wider Christian community, it would be surprising if we weren’t in the hope business. After all, Jesus is in the Hope business.  Indeed that’s what Easter is all about, creating and giving substance to the hope that we can be our best selves, connected to each other, the world in which we live, and ultimately our God.

This Easter, why not take the opportunity to explore that source of hope, and perhaps discover that like Brick’s experience of love, your experience of hope has been missing something?

Ian Warner
Staff Chaplain