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A Few Words from Pastor Bryan
Why Have Hope?
I'm giving myself a significant challenge in my "few words" this week, and that is to explain why, despite the overwhelming brokenness and dysfunction of the world these days, I am actually full of hope and even a significant degree of joy right now.
But I'll start by being as honest and real as I can be. The truth is I'm giving myself this challenge because I need to convince myself that things aren't hopeless. Or maybe just remind myself once again of what I believe most deeply and why. Because the truth is I've been feeling the reality of the downside of things very strongly these last few days especially. I can feel the pull of an undercurrent of sorrow that could easily take me out into an ocean of sadness and hopelessness if I let it.
So I'm not going to let it.
And of course now you're wondering what's up with me. Oh don't worry. I'm fine. More than fine. But I want you to know what I do when I, just like everyone else, feel the weight of things in a painful way.
So what's wrong? Well it's me, and it's the world. As for me, oh I've got my own personal struggles. We all do. Mine are relatively minor at the moment and for that I'm grateful. But we've all got our "stuff" and I'm no exception. Sometimes our own personal struggles are more than enough to deal with, and all our energy goes toward making it through the day. There's nothing wrong with that. It happens. God gets that and is with us in all the minute details of our most intimate personal struggles. In those times the practice that helps me most is to write down at least 3 things for which I'm grateful. Nothing helps me personally more than deliberately choosing gratitude, especially when I'm tempted to wrap a problem around me like a blanket and snuggle up on the couch with it. Those of you who are Enneagram 4's know all about that! Gratitude shifts the energy like nothing else. I've heard it referred to as a "gateway to the presence of God."
But then there's the world of course, and that's what I'm feeling in a darker way now. There is the same old litany of justice issues and "isms" that become clicheish and almost boring to keep mentioning. But that doesn't make them any less real or tragic or painful for those most impacted. I won't even try to list all the issues, but you know what I'm talking about. Start with sexism, racism, homophobia, the greed of the powerful few, and work your way to climate change. Throw in the current wars (Russian/Ukraine & Israel/Hamas--God help us), the debacle of our own downright embarrassing political quagmires with elections and the House and the Senate and the Supreme Court and the inability to get anything done regarding the things that really matter (a realistic discussion about gun safety for example), and it starts to feel pretty desolate.
And then for me there is always the reminder of the people of Haiti and what they represent for me in this world, and that is the millions if not billions of people who face the overwhelming daily heartbreak of grinding poverty created largely by human greed, systemic injustice, and corruption. And the beautiful people among the poorest of the poor always pay the price disproportionately. They are the ones who face hunger, exploitation, sickness, violence. Their suffering tends to go completely unnoticed and unaddressed by the rest of the world unless an earthquake or hurricane or revolution makes them interesting to the corporate news media's cameras for a few weeks until it's no longer dramatic or bloody enough to sell the news. Then once again they are "the wooden bell." As the Haitian proverb puts it, "No one listens to the cry of the poor, or the sound of the wooden bell."
And while I'm talking about Haiti, I have to mention my 22 year old friend Celas. That's a recent photo of him above. I've known Celas since he was a baby. His father is the security guard at the school Haiti Allies helps support. Celas received an education through the SPARE sponsorship program. He goofed off for a while, was almost expelled, but then he was given a second chance. He made the most of it, excelled in school, graduated, and became one of the program's most enthusiastic proponents--always telling the younger kids in the community not to take the opportunity they've been given for granted. He became a talented rap artist who soulfully and brilliantly expressed the experience of his people's tenacity and grace in the face of the constant violence that has paralyzed their country. He became increasingly popular in the city with his music. He would walk some of the female teachers at the school home when gunfire broke out to make sure they were safe.
Well this week Celas was abducted and killed. For no apparent reason. Absolutely senseless. So yeah. Things are feeling a bit bleak.
And that's why I'm writing to let you know why I have hope, and why I have even a degree of joy right now. And here's why. It's really very simple, but it's everything.
I have hope, because I believe--no--I know in the depths of my soul--that God IS, and that God IS Love. I believe that LOVE is the very Essence of the Creator. It is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end of everything. The strongest Force in the Universe. And that means that no matter what happens in my personal life or in this beautifully crazy world, that it will all culminate with LOVE, and the presence and power of LOVE will be with us and among us and through us at every moment no matter what happens, and that God will give us the grace to face whatever we have to face no matter what that is. Love is stronger than death.
So I've got hope because God exists, and because there are millions of people in this world who are opening more and more all the time to the FLOW of God's endless overflowing stream of Justice and Love. We're finding each other, encouraging each other, comforting each other, doing the work of justice and healing together, learning from our mistakes together, and reminding each other that LOVE will never be overcome, no matter how bleak or destructive people lost and alienated from their true selves become. As Rob Bell put it, without being triumphalist or smug..."Love Wins." Love will be the last Realtiy Standing. It will be the Home to which we all return when all the wandering and journeying is done.
And knowing that--well it makes my heart smile. Or at least move in the direction of a smile. No matter what the circumstances. It is the smile of the heart on the other side of the river of tears. The joy that feels it all, that doesn't need to put a happy face on genuine human sorrow, but it's the joy that knows that God and God's LOVE is and will always be the Final Word.
So I've got hope, and at least some degree of joy. The joy that's way deeper than happiness. It's not a feeling. It's a decision. Right now. And pretty much always.
I hope to see you in church this Sunday. Let's celebrate Hope and Joy together.
Bryan
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