Last Saturday it was a wedding. Next Monday it is a funeral. What do the two have in common? Both are filled with hope. The wedding takes a couple of mid-aged people and tries to join them and some teenage and older children into a single family unit. It takes hope to even try such a thing. The funeral takes a family who is devastated by tragedy and grasping at hope, hope that there is a future, hope that God is merciful, hope that tragedy won't strike others.
Why is it that when faced with the need for hope humans turn to religion, in this case Christian religion? Why do they think that hope is available for them?
More importantly, what does the Christian church in 2011 have to offer humans who are daily beset with tragedy: tornadoes, floods, lightning strikes, bullets, cars? The list goes on. The message of the church may be on sin and forgiveness, often tempered with a change of living. But why do individuals turn to the church? Does the church of 2011 practice hope?
Paul did say, "But now, Faith, Hope and Love remain, these three things: But love is the greatest of these." (1 Cor 13:13). The Church is to practice love. That message is clear. The church is to demonstrate Faith. That seems apparent. Where is the teaching on Hope today?
I think another good question is does the Church of 2011 practice hope for right now? My internship at a rural United Methodist Church this summer has been very eye-opening. The church has a good mix of people from young to old, but invariably the retired folks are the ones I spend the most time with (aside from Sunday morning) because of their free schedule.
ReplyDeleteI preface with that because in the numerous small group and other meetings I have been a part of, the conversation almost always turns toward a discussion of heaven. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about household codes in Ephesians 5 or 1 John, we always get to 'heaven'. Now, this may be the result of the age of the attendees of these meetings, some of whom have lived difficult lives with multiple divorces, lost loved ones, and ailing health themselves. Still, the one time I taught the youth Sunday school class and attempted to talk about the Dark Night of the Soul, we too ended in a discussion of heaven via a 'rapture' discussion (not planned by me).
So, how do we articulate a message of hope for right now. If the good news truly is that the kingdom of God has come near (Mark 1.14) then how do we share that hope with the world? Or even the Church? Sorry to answer your question with a question, but this is an interesting topic.
Answer a question with a question? Who taught you that technique??? I wonder?
ReplyDeleteWhat is hope right now? Hope is, in a sense, foreseeing the future in an optimistic manner. It is a perspective on life that is based on a changed perspective of the present. So, in a sense, articulating a message of hope right now means helping people understand that God's kingdom includes the right now. Jesus' teaching includes the right now. We are to give up on selfishness right now, on self-centeredness right now, on greed right now, on discontentment right now. When we start doing kingdom right now, the kingdom we hope for, the opportunity we hope for, the change we hope for, begins to take place right now. First within us, then as God works to redeem our situation, around us.
Sorry for being so late with the posting.