Where do you find hope?

Where do you find hope?

This past Wednesday, as I held my new grandson, who bears my middle name, I was reminded that once again God was declaring – for all that care to hear – the Divine affirmation that life here on planet Earth will continue … that God holds out hope for the human race … that, like every other birth of a male or female human child, life is precious, should be cherished, and will continue. In my grandson or granddaughter, or your grandson, granddaughter or child, there rests the possibility of a brighter tomorrow. As I’ve illustrated in sermons past, God said, “Let there be light” and he invited Thomas Edison. Within the spirit, soul and mind of every new human being the mystery of discovery and solution finding rests … and I find hope!

I find hope in a theology professor by the name of Dr. Charles Thompson who, while dying of cancer, can lecture, to standing room only, on the Theology of Hope. Theology of Hope is that we find in the resurrection of Christ not a present reality, but the possibility for the future … that when the church and life is overtaken by evil, despair, anxiety, greed, sexual offense, etc., God has the last word … that regardless of judgment of society or political powers, God has the last word … that though we fail each other at every turn, God has the last and final word … that when we try to crucify the Divine’s answer to life and possibility burying him away in a sealed tomb, God has the final and last word. It is here that I find hope.

Christopher Fry, in his powerful play, The Dark Is Light Enough, states that even in the blackest of midnights, when everything else fails, there is enough light to take the next step, to move forward, to pick up the pieces and rekindle the fire of possibility ... the possibility of hope. At midnight, in the darkened landscape, when the cabin door is opened the darkness does not race in to conqueror the light, but the light spills out into the darkness and shows that there is nothing to fear in the shadows of midnight. It is here that I find hope.

I find hope in individuals like Dan Terry in Afghanistan, in the present day or Burrell Law from the 1960s in the Congo – both murdered for no apparent reason other than being Christian under difficult circumstances trying to bring hope in a dark part of the world – and yet others men and women step forward to take their place so that the word of hope continues … lives changed … villages receive clean water, medical attention, young boys and girls educated, sanitation systems built … and I find hope.

It is just too easy for us to get caught up in the silliness that we call life. Our petty grievances and ridiculous commentary on life only gets in the way when we lose sight of hope for the future … hope for all peoples … regardless of how dark the world in which they live.

Where do you find hope? What gives you encouragement? Who is it that lifts your spirit and causes your soul to sing?

Quote for today: Hope of the world, thou Christ of great compassion, Speak to our fearful hearts by conflict rent. Save us, thy people, form consuming passion, Who by our own false hopes and aims are spent … Hope of the world, afoot on dusty highways, Showing to wandering souls the path of light; Walk thou beside us lest the tempting byways Lure us away from thee to endless night. Georgia Harkness