The Hope of a Safe Harbor Rooted in Justice

When I began telling friends in 2024 that I accepted an offer to become the new leader for the Global HOPE team, I was often met with one question intoned one of two ways: “Global Hope, what’s that?” The first expressed a genuine curiosity with what work I would soon engage in. The second was expressed in varying degrees of snark wrapped in the assertion that in today’s world “global hope,” if it exists, is hard to find.  

I have spent much time over the last year thinking about the latter intonation, and I have found it a difficult task. Where does one search for hope in a world that continues to allow and enable genocide, promotes the erosion of basic human rights in the name of stability and prosperity, and moves us further into a vision of public “safety” that is anything but just. These are stormy times to be a member of the human family. 

I recently had the opportunity to visit my family in Maine. Sitting on the shore, one must speak up to be heard over crashing waves made larger than usual by an unseen hurricane miles off shore. In the harbor, buoys bob with the waves, their bells gently signaling the presence both of a safe harbor ahead and warning of unseen hazards nearby. 

Over the last six months, the strategy and tactics of authoritarianism have mirrored a thick fog as they work to overwhelm and obfuscate any attempted or perceived opposition by those working contrary to the authoritarians’ vision of exclusion. Just as the harbor bell sits at the border of dangerous reefs and the safe harbor of a protected marina, so too do the many voices hope and justice among us that continue to urge a turning away from the rocks of oppression and injustice towards the hope of a safe harbor’s extravagant welcome, its waters quieted by equity and justice. 

I find hope in knowing that even in the strongest of storms these buoys persist in their steadfast commitment to guiding weary travelers. It is my wish that more may join their efforts and that we will someday reach the welcoming equity of justice’s safe harbor. Until then, I will continue to listen for their guiding call. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Long-Higgins serves as the Minister and Team Leader for Global Hope in the National Setting of the United Church of Christ.

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