Editorial by Rick Remmers

Hope is an interesting word. We hope for a lot of different things. We hope it won’t rain on the day we’ve planned a picnic. We hope there are no traffic jams on our commute to work. We hope to be able to find our favorite socks. We hope our teacher doesn’t give us a pop quiz.

Then there are the more substantive concerns. We hope there is more money in our account than days in the month. We hope our nation enacts laws promoting justice and equality. We hope our employer’s business does well so our job is secure. We hope organizations we are part of will promote fairness and opportunity.

• Feature: Covered With Comfort
• Editorial: A Matter of Conscience
• Processing the Evolution of Veggie Meat
• The Future of ABCs: What are They Doing to Stay Afloat?
• Journeying Through Grief

Editorial by Dave Weigley

This year marks 500 years since Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany (Oct. 31, 1517), challenging the established religious beliefs and practices of his denomination, and launching the Protestant Reformation. Conscientiously, he could not reconcile church practices with biblical teachings as he understood them. 

Four years later, when summoned by church authorities to recant his teachings, he uttered: “I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me? Amen” (Merle d’Aubigne, History of the Reformation in the 16th Century, b. 7, ch. 8, cited in The Great Controversy, p. 160.2).