It is challenging to amp oneself up for an optimistic new year when the wounds of the previous year still gape. Instead of hope, we may feel dread or a sense of impending doom. “When will the next shoe drop?” we might wonder as we reel from a season that has brought more valleys than mountaintops. Afraid to hope, we may want to guard ourselves from more prospective pain, even while we try to be cautiously optimistic. In the television series Ted Lasso, Ted’s soccer team will be relegated to a lesser league if they don’t win their final match. When Coaches Beard and Lasso are at the pub prior to the game, fans give them condolences on having to be relegated. Ted responds, “You’re acting like we lost the game already. Why don’t you have a little hope?” They laugh, and the sage barkeep responds, “Aw, Ted. Haven’t you lived here long enough to realize it’s the hope that kills you?” (season 1, episode 10, “The Hope That Kills,” directed by MJ Delaney, aired October 2, 2020, on Apple TV, 5:50–6:10). This phrase pops up throughout the episode, irritating Coach Lasso. Later in the episode, he pep-talks the team with these words: “I think it’s the lack of hope that comes and gets ya” (“The Hope That Kills,” 9:16–10:10). Like the writer of Lamentations, Ted knows that hope will help us face whatever comes, win or lose. His team ends up losing, but hope remains because of the relationships built over the season, and the following season brings a new opportunity for the team to prove themselves and reclaim their status in the league. For the believer, whatever comes, our hope rests on the everlasting faithfulness of a good God.