December 1998 Issue

Hope is such an important dynamic for human experience. Hope is an essential ingredient for living life with purpose. With this in mind I think about members of my congregation.

John and Mary have been members for many years. They have been faithful attenders of worship. Yet they don't really accept invitations, or opportunities, to open up and talk about their life experiences. There has been tragedy in their lives. Ten years ago their daughter died in an automobile accident caused by a drunk driver. She was 17. I wonder what John and Mary hope for?

Elaine comes to mind. She usually sits toward the back of the sanctuary where most of the congregation sits. Elaine has been working very hard trying to raise her three children (ages 9, 13, 16) as a single parent and also maintain employment. Elaine does have hope that she will provide for her children adequately and that they will be able to have successful careers. Elaine hopes, that her children will fare better than she. I hope she succeeds, but sometimes I wonder what will Elaine will hope for once her children are on their own.

Then there is Tom. Tom doesn't come to church very often. He used to attend regularly until after Confirmation Class. That's when his parents no longer required him to attend. The world fascinates Tom—having friends, having fun with friends, going to school, participating in many extracurricular activities. Sometimes I get the feeling that "God-talk" doesn't really mean much one way or the other to Tom. Tom does hope to attend college, and become a successful engineer.

Marsha sometimes comes to church, too. She is more apt to attend only some of the Youth Fellowship activities. She lives with her mother and her four brothers and sisters. Last year she attempted suicide. It seems that the way she learned that she could receive "love" from her father was to "let" him fondle her. This evidently went on for years, from the time she was a very young child until she became an adolescent. She always had a very uneasy feeling about this, but she also felt very hurt and rejected when father suddenly stopped when she was 13. Soon after, she felt so dirty, used, and useless that she believed that it would be better to end the hurt. What can Marsha dare hope for?

Bob will probably not be in church on Sunday. He is having a very rough time. He came to see me this week and tearfully told me that his wife, Sarah, had announced she wants a divorce. He is devastated. Throughout his marriage Bob has lived for Sarah and the marriage. Now his life threatens to lose all meaning for him. Bob is not feeling much hope right now. His world is falling apart.

I pastor a congregation that has been in existence for nearly a century. It has shrunk significantly in the past 20 years. As the congregation shrank, the members began to quarrel more. There are at least three factions in the congregation who tend to get embroiled in a fight for the seemingly smallest reasons. They had hoped to become a larger, more significant congregation. This hope has steadily slipped away. They went through a couple of pastors who they had hoped would turn their situation around and help them increase membership. The two pastors "failed" at this and were asked to leave for various and sundry reasons.

The congregation needs new hope, a hope that "won't disappoint" them. Is this an opportunity to help them change directions (repent)? I sincerely hope so. They need a new hope that they can use to move beyond their congregational "navel gazing." It would be exciting to see them become seriously challenged to find out what it means for them (for us!) to be the body of Christ today.

I look at myself. What are my hopes as their pastor? Sometimes I feel burned out, discouraged. My hopes are worn down. I catch myself getting caught up in trying to be the "successful" pastor who will make a significant difference. When this happens it catches up to me. I again become aware of my idolatrous tendency to place hope in myself more than the Lord. How refreshed I feel when I can stop, "come to my senses," and return again (and again) to my hope in Jesus Christ.

The scriptures leave little doubt that we are to be people of hope. but how does one experience hope in life that is rife with suffering and despair? The hope of Advent can be appreciated only in its fullest when we experience it as the beginning of the journey that culminates in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah.

Our hope can be real hope, genuine hope, because it is not based upon ourselves, but upon God who chooses to suffer our despair with us in our human condition. We hope because "the Word became flesh," a helpless little baby who grew to be a man, who lived among women and men, who ultimately was arrested, tortured, killed. We hope, because we believe this same man, Jesus of Nazareth, was raised from death by God.

The season of Advent is hopeful, because as we celebrate the coming of the Messiah, we celebrate it in hope of the Messiah's return. It is hopeful, because God is faithful.

One of the great strengths of our Christian Faith is its ability to take suffering, despair, and death seriously. It does not try to cover over our human suffering with some kind of syrupy, Pollyanna optimism. Instead we have the hope given to us by God in Jesus Christ that can strengthen us even as we suffer and hurt. Evil and suffering no longer lead to ultimate despair.

As I meditate on this congregation, I feel challenged to share the Hope of God so that their lives can have meaning that not only accepts, but also goes beyond their everyday experience. I feel challenged to interpret the Hope of God so that they, as a congregation, can be invited to move beyond their hope in just membership growth, or any other "hope" that is less than the hope we have in God.

Daniel E. Hale
Buffalo, NY