We may and do quibble about many matters in the church. But however we may parse those quibbles, we share this confession of newness, given in ways we know not how, at the bottomless pit of death. And we begin again! Thus the prophetic tasks of realism, grief, and hope are not odd interpretations or incidental add-ons to the life of the church. They are, rather, the most elemental truth that belongs to the identity and life of the church. These acts of realism, grief, and hope are everywhere present in the life, the talk, and walk of the church.
