May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Sometimes I worry that you might think I’m just a Pollyanna, looking at the world through naive, rose-colored glasses. I assure you this is not the case: Christian Hope is different.
In my five years as a chaplain at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in the emergency department, the NICU, the cardiac and neuro ICUs, the cancer and transplant centers, I was present for more heartbreaking tragedy and attended at the side of more dying people than the soul—unaided by God—can bear.
There is pain, grief, sorrow, sickness, and death in this world. Each of us, me included, has carried much of it throughout our lives. But there is also joy, beauty, love, and new birth in this world. It is my blessing as your priest and pastor to be at your side for all of this, assuring you of God’s loving presence in every step we take, even when we fall.
It is my blessing to proclaim the “upper case” Good News: as I said in Sunday’s sermon, we are the lost sheep and the lost coin and the prodigal son—and God, in Jesus, has searched us out and found us and rescued us and forgiven us, offering us, freely, an invitation to God’s joyful Banquet.
There is also “lower case” good news in the world—but it does not commoditize the same way that bad news does. Our world just now is organized so much around media advertising, driven by outrage and catastrophe that brings in clicks and views, that it is sometimes almost impossible to remember about the Banquet.
That’s where Christian Hope comes in. Our hope is not that we can fix this broken world ourselves—clearly we can’t. Our hope is not that we will live without experiencing illness and sorrow, and even death—clearly we can’t. Our hope is not in ourselves or in anything this world can give. Our hope is in the Living God and in God’s plan to redeem and restore all of creation. Our hope is in Jesus our Savior, who showed us in all that he did that community and healing are possible…Who showed us that although suffering and death are real, He is present always, even (and especially) in them…Who showed us that, ultimately, we will join in new, resurrected life with Him. Jesus is the source of all our hope. Jesus is how, even at the grave, we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
May you, today and always, overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings and peace, Fr. Keith
