Beginnings in Hope

Photo found on the Massachusettes Bible Society Blog-site

massbible.org

One of the biblical texts we'll be using a lot this year for Advent and Christmas is the beginning of the gospel of John.  Sometimes called the preamble of John, or the pre-history of John, this is a powerful and profound section of the Bible.  Several years ago I shared as a new year message what I wrote in late December or early January of 2001.  As we mark ten years of conflict, recession, and challenges facing our nation, state, and church since 2001, I thought I would share it one last time as our church prepares to hear Christmas music this Sunday and prepares to hear God's word preached from John Chapter 1.

Beginnings in Hope - John 1: 1 - 15

And so, in faith and love, but most especially today, Hope, I stand before you to say that despite all the suffering around us here, all the grief and anxiety, we are hopeful that the days to come will be easier and we are hopeful that God will stand by those who grieve and mend their hearts and renew their lives.

Some undoubtedly are thinking right now that I am crazy. I have a few friends who describe themselves as atheist who immediately say, “how can you believe in a God that allows suffering like that?”

Others accuse us Christians of being Polly-Anna's. Of having rose-colored glasses. Of not seeing things as they really are.

This is because as Christians we see the world differently. We find our very beginnings in hope. Here at the first Chapter of John’s Gospel we find a confession in the Lordship of Christ that stands as one of the great texts of the New Testament. The beginning is not an accident. It is a word, a word of hope. A word of hope that is a light that shines in the darkness. A word of hope that shone so brightly it became flesh in Christ and dwelt among us. We, the people who find our beginnings in hope, are the people of hope. It is how we see the world. It is what we do in the face of tragedy. Our Bible, our Gospel, our Christ, our faith would have it no other way.

For John’s gospel, the beginning is hope. And that in and of itself has changed everything. Hope allows us to see the possibility in someone or something as much as we see his or her or its limitations. Hope allows us to take comfort that a friend suffers no more but rejoices with the angels. Hope allows the woman trapped in addiction the luxury of knowing that something other than her disease is possible for her. We need hope like we need breath.

Unfortunately there have always been detractors – the super intellectual nihilists, the fundamental realists who say that life and being are nothingness and that there is nothing to hope for or really to even hope in. An attorney in New York in the 1890’s once said, “Hope is only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.”

Hope does not lie when we put our hope in God. God can indeed tell us no, but we are never unheard and never ignored. “Hope springs eternal,” wrote the poet Alexander Pope. He’s right. Hope is our strength. Hope is our light that shines in the darkness.

Most Presbyterian ministers are fascinated by Shakespeare in some way – perhaps because the works are so very human, the problems the characters face so very real. I like many, have always been moved by King Lear, the tragedy of a noble and honest king whose daughters kill and fight and drive the king mad with their lust for power. Lord Gloucester is the character I most enjoy, despite his tragedy. He loses a son to power, and a son to shame, and his eyesight at the hand of the king’s daughters. He resolves to kill himself, but his son, Edgar, disguised as a beggar for fear of discovery, stops him in his act of suicide, and in hope tells him, “Stop, for Thy life is a miracle.” Reality would have the son see a father who was blind and almost useless in a ancient world. Hopeless would see a man half bled to death being helped by a beggar. The eyes of hope that see with the light that shines in the darkness saw instead a father who still had much to give.

There is a light that shines in the darkness. If only we’ll let the light of Christ shine upon us richly. We are the people of Hope, and though God does say no sometimes, it is our hope and our belief that God is ever with us.

The Apostle Paul in Romans 5th chapter wrote these famous words --“Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into us.”

The light shines in the darkness my friends, and thanks be to God that the darkness does not over come it.