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"Daring to Hope" Last November half the adult population watched a television program titled “The Day After.” It showed what might happen to the town of Lawrence the day after Kansas City, some thirty miles distant, was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. A similar kind of film is showing at theaters. It is titled Testament and traces the efforts of a family, and a small town, to cope with radiation following the destruction of the San Francisco Bay Area. These are sobering reminders our future is uncertain. It is easy to be pessimistic. We should, however, keep perspective. From the long view of history, our setting is not unique. A mere glance at the index of time will notice scores of occasions when it seemed that the earth and the heavens were being shaken and everybody was listening to the counsels of despair. What grim and grave hours in the story of the human race as suggested by such dates as the year 70 in Jerusalem, 410 in Rome, 1914 in Europe, and 1941 in America. Someone did some research on famous sayings coming from English leaders in the first half of the 19th century: William Pitt said: “There is scarcely anything around us but ruin and despair.” Lord Shaftesbury: “Nothing can save the British Empire from shipwreck.” William Wilberforce: “I dare not marry; the future is too uncertain.” And the dying Duke of Wellington: “I thank God I shall be spared from seeing the consummation of ruin that is gathering about us.” Yet during that same period the following babies were born: Charles Darwin, William Gladstone, Lincoln, Mendelssohn, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edgar Allan Poe, Tennyson and others who made outstanding contributions to science, poetry, religion, politics, and the arts. A baby is always a symbol of our belief in the f uture. For Christians, there is another. It is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I wish to share three affirmations about hope and reflect on them with you. First, hope is to believe in the probability of good! Many of us were reared to prepare for the worst. Our mothers were always warning us with dire predictions: “Don't go out without your coat or you'll catch cold; Don't cross the street, you'll get hit with a car; Don't go on the ice, you'll fall through.” But why not prepare for the possibility the best may happen! I have a friend who always drives to the front door when parking is limited. He says there is as much chance of a space at the door as a block away. Of ten he is right! As we think back over the past year, we usually remember the day when everything went wrong. We forget there were a far larger number of days when things went reasonably well. Hope is to believe that the good will probably happen. Recently I was browsing through one of those books which has a series of famous photographs. One caught my attention. It was taken in the fall of 1945 in one of Germany's bombed-out cities. It showed a boy, seven or eight years of age, making his way through the rubble, carrying books on the way to a makeshift school. The picture was captioned: “The flow of life is ever onward.” At the heart of this universe there is an irreversible drive toward life. Isn't it possible that even something as terrible as the threat of nuclear war could be used for a creative good? Why not believe this threat can bring us to peace rather than destruction? Frightening as it is, the threat has kept us out of a world war for one of the longest periods in the history of the human race. We can only retain our sanity by believing in the probability of good. When serving in Cincinnati, I had a dear friend, Rabbi Reichert, who was once asked at the conclusion of a lecture to give his definition of religion. I wrote down his answer and share it with you: “Religion,” he said, “is the art of living life so as to look back with the fewest regrets and look forward with the highest hopes!” Second, hope is to believe God sent His Only Begotten Son to save the world, not destroy it. A few years ago Hal Lindsay wrote a book titled, The Late Great Planet Earth. He attempted to prove, from the biblical point of view, that it was God's plan to destroy the world. Because there were many references to Armageddon, blood and thunder, Hollywood picked up on the book and made it into a movie. I believe history has a destination. God's purpose in creation would not be fulfilled if the world was destroyed. The Gospels remind us that "God so loved the world He sent His Only Begotten Son..." (John 3:16) A generation ago Arthur John Gossip, noted British preacher, lost his wife due to a bewilderingly sudden accident. The first sermon after her passing he titled, “But when life tumbles in, what then?” It has been a sermon frequently quoted by other preachers. “I don't think you need be afraid of life...We have a wonderful God, and as Paul puts it, what can separate us from His love?” There is an immortal phrase from the Psalmist: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God.” A poet was watching the sky and suddenly saw a duck. Most of us would simply see a bird in flight but William Cullen Bryant saw more. He saw a divine purpose in all of nature. He penned these immortal words that still inspire and reassure us: “He who from zone to zone guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight; in the long way that I must tread alone will lead my steps aright.” Third, Hope is to believe we create our own future! Or as one person phrased it, “It is not enough to believe in the future; we must believe our future into being!” We create our own future. We're not helpless pawns. There is marvelous power when we start believing. Edward Everett Hale has been criticized for the optimism of his poem, “I am the captain of my soul, master of my fate.” But he also wrote, “I cannot do everything, but I can do something ... and what I ought to do by the grace of God, I will do.” Do you want a world without war? Work for it! If you don't think nuclear freeze is the best approach, develop a better idea and work for it. If you don't think picketing factories that build bombs is a good idea, then bring zeal and diligence to another plan. But let it be known that you think war is unthinkable and must not be an instrument of foreign policy. Given the reality of human nature, there will always be competition and aggression. But war as a means of resolving conflict is not inevitable. People make decisions to use the instrumentality of war. There are other options. We can work for them. There are world courts. There is mediation. Find an alternative to war and work for it. If you don't want a world where people die of hunger, do something. Most programs to alleviate hunger are the result of some people dreaming, planning and then putting their idea into action. If you don't want a world where young people get high on drugs, work to get them involved in programs and activities that show a better way. The future is not fixed. Megatrends may not be so “mega” after all. The futurists talk about interventions, discontinuities. Theologians talk about God as the “God of Surprises.” The unexpected can happen, and often does. People can make a difference. I was in a meeting of Bishops where we were passing resolutions. One began “In a hate-filled world...” I could not restrain myself. I rose to speak. I said, "I don't know where you live, but I live in a community where people of good-will are constantly working to improve conditions for the poor, to correct systems and structures that do not provide equity and justice. I spend my time with church groups, civic organizations, and persons of all sorts who want the world to be better. There is hate in the world. We know that. But I'm not willing to surrender the world to the forces of evil. We sing a hymn which says, ‘And though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet!’ and I believe that.”Well, I carried the day. The resolution did not pass. If you really believe we can create our own future, then you will work for justice, peace and righteousness. On one occasion I went to see The Diary of Anne Frank, a play about that delightful little sprite of courage who met her death in a concentration camp of the Nazis. Near the end of the play there is a surprising tribute to hope 's versatility. When Anne and her Jewish parents hear the Gestapo breaking down the door of their hiding place, Otto Frank, the father, rallies them by saying, “For the past two years we have lived in fear; now we can live in hope.” I began by referring to that word from Peter who wrote, “We are born again to a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” The resurrection means many different things but it is above all else the ultimate reminder that God is the ruler of this world and the final victory is His. I heard a minister on one occasion preach a sermon titled “Powerful Words.” I have never forgotten it and when I share his outline with you, I think you will remember it.
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