Hope is a dynamic at work in a community, first of all. Finding expression in a community's imagery, rituals, and stories, it arises in individuals insofar as they partake of this social reality. In the Christian community, a shared attitude of trustful hope is directed toward the gracious reality of God who in making and sustaining the world, raising Jesus from the dead, and gifting human beings with grace pledges unconquerable fidelity to all of creation. The communion of saints forms part of the vocabulary of this hope. Because the God of love who holds the world in being still embraces the dead, they can be affirmed as being alive in communion with the living God, thus signaling the destiny that awaits all. With these companions in hope the church cries out to God amid the beauty and suffering of history, 'You are my hope,' and sets itself to the task of making an earth where life with dignity is possible for all creatures.
— Elizabeth A. Johnson, Friends of God and Prophets