So the saviour of the world is among us.
After what seems a lifetime since his election in November, Barack Obama was finally inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States a fortnight ago.
OK, so at no point has the man himself made any claim to be the world’s saviour.
But as the USA’s first African-American president, the hand of history is on his shoulder and so is an enormous weight of expectation and hope.
Foolish
Hope not just in America but around the world that he’ll sort out some of our most pressing problems, from the credit crunch to climate change, from poverty to peace in the Middle East.
As in-trays go, he’s got a stinker and we would be foolish to think one man can solve all these big problems. The best we can do is maintain our hope in the Lord and pray that Mr Obama leads wisely – and successfully.
Obama himself, a professed man of Christian faith, is undaunted because he has hope, as he told the Democratic National Convention: `Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope.
`In the end that is God’s greatest gift to us …. a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead.’
Faced with the gloom of mid winter, the chill winds of economic downturn and the relentless storms of conflict and terrorism, hope is the only antidote to despair.
Blessed
The key, as any banker will tell you, is investing your hope in the right place.
The psalmist cracked it when he wrote: `Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God … the Lord who remains faithful for ever.’ Psalm 146:5
It’s a reassuring message to remember in a period when the only thing you can bank on is more uncertainty.
Here at Tearfund, our hope is that God’s will to see people lifted out of poverty will be done through the local church.
After a turbulent few months, is it time to review where you’re investing your hope?