The Christian Hope

Q.     What is the Christian hope?
A.     The Christian hope is to live with confidence in newness
         and fullness of life, and to await the coming of Christ in
         glory, and the completion of God’s purpose for the
         world.

Q.     What do we mean by the coming of Christ in glory?
A.     By the coming of Christ in glory, we mean that Christ
         will come, not in weakness but in power, and will make
         all things new.

Q.     What do we mean by heaven and hell?
A.     By heaven, we mean eternal life in our enjoyment of God;
         by hell, we mean eternal death in our rejection of God.

Q.     Why do we pray for the dead?
A.     We pray for them, because we still hold them in our
         love, and because we trust that in God’s presence those
         who have chosen to serve him will grow in his love, until
         they see him as he is.

Q.     What do we mean by the last judgment?
A.     We believe that Christ will come in glory and judge
         the living and the dead.

Q.     What do we mean by the resurrection of the body?
A.     We mean that God will raise us from death in the
         fullness of our being, that we may live with Christ in the
         communion of the saints.

Q.     What is the communion of saints?
A.     The communion of saints is the whole family of God,
         the living and the dead, those whom we love and those
         whom we hurt, bound together in Christ by sacrament,
         prayer, and praise.

Q.     What do we mean by everlasting life?

A.     By everlasting life, we mean a new existence, in which we
         are united with all the people of God, in the joy of fully
         knowing and loving God and each other.

Q.     What, then, is our assurance as Christians?
A.     Our assurance as Christians is that nothing, not even
         death, shall separate us from the love of God which is in
         Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.