Finding Hope

by | Aug 11, 2024

Preaching text: Romans 5: 1-5

  1. It is said that more often than not, preachers preach to The Rev. Suzanne Trump, Associate Pastor of Formation and Compassionthemselves
    1. We preach what we need to hear
    2. And today, I need hope
    3. I’ll bet that many of you are feeling the same way
    4. How can we have hope in the midst of everything going on in our world today?
    5. The war in Ukraine continues with no end in sight
    6. Israel continues its march into Gaza and Hamas leadership seems to be getting stronger not weaker
    7. As we look toward a presidential vote rhetoric continues to ramp up
    8. We see ongoing divisions and pain all around us
    9. How are we supposed to hope in the midst of all that and more?????
    10. Reading or watching the news is depressing, frustrating and a never-ending barrage of bad stuff
    11. How can we possibly find hope?
  2. I guess the first sign of hope is that I/we are not alone
    1. Lots of bright educated people, religious leaders, and normal folks are asking for signs of hope
    2. One of my favorite theologians, Nadia Bolz Weber, who yes is a Lutheran pastor writes a weekly newsletter and a couple weeks ago she included a video of a panel discussion participated in at the Aspen Institute, the title of the discussion was “Hope in Troubling Times”
    3. Okay, you got me, I prayed that this would help me find some hope
    4. The moderator, Simran Jeet Singh who is a Sikh, and the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute lead a discussion with Nadia, Rabbi Sharon Brous the senior rabbi of Ikar(the very essence of things) and Greg Epstein a humanist chaplain at Harvard and MIT.
    5. Okay, some really bright connected people here
    6. Simran set the tone by talking about how after 9/11 when they were in fear for their lives, his father stood at the front window and said, “Aren’t we lucky?” So many of our neighbors are bringing food and keeping us in prayer
    7. I have to think at that moment, that was a profound comment to make, I do not think I would have felt lucky at that time in history
    8. The message from Simran’s father is to embrace the hard stuff and recognize that goodness as both hard and good can both be truth at the same time.
    9. We have a choice what we focus on
    10. And Nadia really takes the issue of what we focus on seriously
    11. She reminds us that our brains and our bodies were developed to be hunters and gathers, we were not created to live 24/7 with every single thing going on in the world
    12. Single. Thing. 24/7.
    13. To survive, we need to look up from our screens
    14. We need to hear the hundreds of years of stories that are the foundation of life
    15. To recognize the faith and hope of those around us
    16. We don’t have to do it all, have it all, be it all
    17. We are so quick to want to skip over the suffering
    18. It hurts, it is not comfortable, it forces us to look within, and that is hard, we don’t always like what we see
    19. The protestant work ethic is literally killing us
    20. We have been conditioned to believe that we have to lift ourselves us, we have to be independent and have it all together
    21. When in reality not one single persons has it together
    22. And that is what Paul is talking about in Romans
  3. Suffering exists, it is real, and we can even boast in our sufferings
    1. And what Paul is teaching us here is that we can boast in our sufferings, not because we are martyrs but because we can never, not by any amount of suffering we separated from God
    2. Suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint
    3. Hope cannot be taken away
    4. Two thousand plus years later Christians gather to pray, to read scripture, to eat together
    5. Why, because no one can take that away
    6. Thousands of years of stories
    7. Thousands of years of suffering
    8. Thousands of years of disagreements
    9. And still Jews and Gentiles, gather
    10. The time that Paul was writing in was a time of extreme suffering, ruled by the harsh and unforgiving Roman government, every day people where oppressed and suffering
    11. And they thought that Jesus would be an end to suffering and would triumph over the evil Roman Empire
    12. But instead, he is hung, he is tormented, he dies a horrible, painful, humiliating death on a cross with thieves beside him
    13. And still they gathered
    14. Still they took care of each other
    15. Still they ate together
    16. Still they argued over which laws had to be followed
    17. And why?
  4. Because we are interdependent
    1. We are connected, not one of us is truly independent as much as we are told we should be
    2. As much as we want to be
    3. We are all connected
    4. We are related
    5. We gather to pray and read scripture together
    6. We gather to eat together
    7. We take care of one another
    8. We pick each other up
    9. When I am troubled and feeling hopeless
    10. I need you
    11. I need your encouragement
    12. I need your strength
    13. Rabbi Sharon shared an ancient ritual
      1. Each year go to Jerusalem, ascend the steps of the Temple Mount, enter on the right and circle around the courtyard
      2. BUT, if your heart is broken, enter and circle the opposite direction, turn left so that we are walking facing people who are okay
  • And as someone enters the heart broken, they say tell me, what is going on, face to face, they listen to your story, and then they give you a blessing and move on
  1. They encounter each other’s pain, each other’s humanity and they don’t run away
  2. They listen, face to face
  3. Compassion and care and connection
  1. And therein lies hope
    1. We find hope in our connections to God and to each other
    2. We find hope in looking up and away from screens, TV and computer, laptop, and phone
    3. We find hope is choosing what we focus on
    4. What data are we going to let in
    5. To see each other, truly see
    6. To looking at each other, face to face
    7. To listen to our stories
    8. To listen to our hurts and pains and shame
    9. And give a blessing
    10. To know that no matter how deep and significant our suffering
    11. We are promised that God will always be present with us
    12. That God loves us unconditionally
    13. That are worth is infinite because it comes from an infinite God
    14. And so in that we find our hope
    15. Our hope in God
    16. Our hope in each other
    17. Together some enter and walk to the right
    18. And some enter and walk to the left
    19. And at the moment when we meet hope is truly present
    20. May you look up and in doing so may you find a listening ear, a hopeful blessing, and God’s love poured out and in you.
    21. Amen