ELCA Youth Gathering: God's Hope Changes Everything!

On Saturday, June 30, RMS participants at the ELCA Youth Gathering joined together for Synod Day. Led by our youth leaders, we joined together for conversation, worship, and play. With great joy I shared my reflections on the story of the day, The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

Beloved of the Rocky Mountain Synod …

So did you catch the hope talk in this reading we just heard? It wasn’t actually very positive – in fact, it was hope disappointed.

We had hoped ... that’s what Cleopas and his friend told the stranger as they were walking along the road to Emmaus: we had hoped …

We had hoped that this Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel, to be our hero solving our problems, righting all our wrongs, bringing justice and a new day … but then it all ended ugly, on a cross. And, yes, we’ve heard rumors he’s alive and we’d like to believe it, but right now all we have is hope disappointed …

We had hoped ...

Ever have your hopes dashed? Of course you have. We've all had those moments when things DIDN’T turn out the way we wanted, when the outcome we desired, the outcome for which we hoped and prayed did NOT materialize. Hope disappointed. We all know it.

It’s hard to have your hopes disappointed, especially when that for which you are hoping and praying is so good, so positive, so important.

Ever hope and pray for somebody to get well and they didn’t?

Ever hope and pray for your own healing and nothing changed?

Ever hope and pray to be included in something that mattered to you – a team, a group, a project … and then you were left out?

Ever hope and pray that someone would want to deepen their relationship with you, because it’s so right – but they didn’t want anything to do with you?

Ever hope and pray to just be recognized, to be seen for who you are, for your gifts, for the contribution you make … and no one pays attention, or worse – they point out what you don’t have, what you’re lacking instead?

Funny how when things turn out our way we say, “Prayers answered!” But when things don’t go our way, all we are left with is: “well, we had hoped …” Hope disappointed.

It’s hard to know who to blame when hopes are dashed. Is it God’s fault? God didn’t care. God didn’t “want that for your life” – God had “another plan”. God’s just messin’ with you.

Or is it someone else’s fault – THEY did this to me! Or is it YOUR fault, as though, “You didn’t pray hard enough. You don’t have enough faith. Your hope wasn’t ‘strong enough’.”

Actually, I don’t think any of those things are true. In fact, I’m sure they’re not. The problem isn’t you or me or God or someone else – the problem is that what we call hope isn’t actually hope, certainly not the hope we hear about in Romans, the “hope that does not disappoint”, the hope that changes everything. No, what we call hope is usually wishful thinking, and it’s based on a kind of Santa Claus God theology that says “If I’m good or faithful or really wish hard enough, God will grant me my wish. And if I’m not, God may not. Might depend on me, might depends on God’s mood.”

To which I say: rubbish! Wishful thinking is not the same as hope. Wishful thinking is all about attaching yourself to a particular outcome, and then feeling disappointment when that outcome doesn’t come true. Hardly hope.

This language of “attaching yourself to an outcome” is something one of my spiritual directors taught me. Fran is a small Catholic nun who worked with me when I lived in Chicago. A spiritual director is  a kind of guide to help people see how God is at work in their life. It was just before I was elected bishop in 2012 and I wasn’t at all certain whether this was the right thing or not, whether I’d be any good, whether I even wanted to do this ministry or not. I was conflicted. I didn’t know what to hope for. And Fran said, “Jim, don’t attach yourself to the outcome. Regardless of what happens, recognize that God is present and at work – in the situation, in you, in those around you. Look for what God is doing in that moment.”

It was pretty good advice, and helped me begin to see the difference between wishful thinking and hope … true hope.

You see, where true hope lives is in the absolute promise that God is present and active in ALL things, all situations, all parts of your life, all people, no matter what the external evidence may seem to indicate. What we’re talking about is cross-shaped hope – hope shaped like a cross because on the surface things may look like failure and defeat and death and utter disappointment – but from within God is taking the raw material of that situation to fashion something new and unexpected. Who could ever have imagine or hoped for a crucified and risen Messiah, a Lord who rules not with might but in love, a kingdom of God in which the first are last and the last first but in which ALL are included? God style hope always surprises!

Here’s another way to say it: hope, God-style is assurance that nothing is wasted in God’s economy, that God can and does use everything in your life, in our world, in our experience – everything, no matter how difficult or disappointing – to redeem, to bring new life, to make something new. And it takes our eyes being opened – like Cleopas and his friend – to see this cross-shaped hope at work.

You heard it last night in all those stories of grace: a girl with an incurable illness becomes a resource and advocate for others; a guy who cuts to cope with life discovers that “there’s grace for that”; a teenager rejected because of a condition outside of her control reminds us now to renounce the voice of the Accuser in our lives. None of them would have written that script for their lives, all of them hoped” for different outcomes along the way – and in every case, God was present and active – not causing their situation but working with the raw material of their suffering and pain to bring about something new, something sacred, something surprising – something that changed everything.

Hope, God-style – it becomes clear to us every time we let go of our attachment to an outcome and open our eyes to see how God is present and at work in “what is” bringing new life and redemption. Somebody reminded me the other day that the Christian symbol of hope is the anchor – it’s usually hidden from our view but it’s always at work connecting us to God’s steadfast promise.

This meal is another pretty good reminder of hope God-style. Here in simple elements – a bit of bread and wine – a place where we would never expect to find God’s presence and promise, we DO! Here God comes to us in the crucified and risen Messiah, Jesus, to once again take the raw materials of your life and experience in this moment, and to fashion something new, to provide an outcome you would never script for yourself but which leads you into all you are created to be.

Come then, beloved – taste and see this God style hope that is for you, in your, a God style hope that changes everything.

AMEN