Sermon: Carriers of the Light of Hope

Last year we invited people to write their hopes for the year on one of a red
bulb and put it on the tree here in the sanctuary. This year as Lori Gilbert,
Emma, Krista and I unpacked those bulbs and hung them on the tree, it was for
me a sacred moment; reading people's hopes and offering a silent prayer as I
placed each one on the tree. People wrote things as varied as

•  "finding a job"
•  "feeding the hungry"
•  "an end to war"
•  "a cure for cancer"
•  "health"
•  "peace"
•  "friendship"
•  "love"

Some were unique and individual hopes, particular to the life of the person
who wrote it. Some were universal and common hopes, things that seem to
resonate in almost every heart. Hope, we all know what it means to hope for
something; and we all know the devastation that comes when it seems that there
is no hope.
When I lived in Wisconsin, as many of you know, I was part of a program
called the Ulster Project which brought Catholic and Protestant teens to this
country for a month-long experience aimed at building bridges of peace and
reconciliation between these deeply divided communities. During my work with
the Project I was privileged to participate in a study experience in Ireland called
"Understanding the Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland." Throughout the 4-
week program, as we talked with government and religious leaders throughout
the island and visited a number of programs which were aimed at making peace,
one theme seemed to be repeated, in one form or another, by almost every
person who spoke with us. "The dynamics of conflict here are complex and there
is no one thing that will bring peace. But, in order for things to change, people
must have hope -hope that the way things are does not have to be the way
things will be." In many and various ways the people we met carried the light of
that hope into communities so torn apart by hatred, fear and violence that they
existed in hopelessness and despair.
Hope that the way things are does not have to be the way things will be.
In his book Love, Medicine and Miracles, Dr. Bernie Seigel, in talking about his
work with individuals who have cancer and other life threatening diseases, writes,
"There is no such thing as false hope, there is only false no-hope."
A number of years ago I was talking with someone who was going through a
particularly difficult time in her life and I said to her, "I have to preach about
hope this Sunday, what do you think hope is?" And she told me the following
story. "My friends and I used to have a bear named Hope. That bear made its
way among us many times. After we graduated from high school and lived in
different parts of the country Hope traveled from place to place. When it seemed
that things were the most difficult and I wasn't sure I could make it, suddenly
Hope would arrive. I would look at that bear and remember all the things which
Hope had seen us through. I would look at the bear and see the faces of my
friends and I knew somebody cared about me and somebody gave a damn
whether I lived or died. I could hold on to Hope and somehow it helped me get
through." As we finished talking she asked me if I would go with her to buy a
new bear which we could name Hope. She could then carry Hope with her as she
made her difficult journey. She understood that she needed to carry the light of
hope to help her remember God's promises and guide her way along the path to
the future only God could see.
Hope that the way things are does not have to be the way things will be.
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, ....[and] The spirit of
the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
LORD... He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his
ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide
with equity for the meek of the earth;.... "
These words from the prophet Isaiah are the beginning of what some scholars
call a coronation psalm. They believe that these words were spoken on the
occasion of either the birth or the enthronement of a new king of Israel. Other
scholars believe that these words were spoken in the midst of the unfaithfulness
of the present king as both a prayer of hope and an affirmation that one day a
faithful monarch would sit on the throne. But in either case they carry the light of
hope that a new king would make a new world possible, because this new king
would be one who would be open to what calls "God's life-giving, future-creating,
world-forming, despair-ending power and wind (spirit) which can create an utter
newness." It is this wind, this spirit, that will empower this new king to rule with
wisdom and understanding, advocating for the poor and the meek, resisting both
bribes and propaganda, dispensing justice and mercy for all and creating a realm
in which natural enemies become friends and all people find the fullness of life
God intends. For Isaiah such hope was always grounded in the promises and
power of God. So it was that Isaiah sought to carry the light of hope to his people
so that they might see their way into God's future.
Hope that the way things are does not have to be the way things will be.
Jesus came and comes to the light of hope to all who sit in the darkness of
hopelessness and despair. And in Christ's coming we see the face of God and
know that there is One who knows us intimately and loves about us deeply; One
who sees the potential which is locked inside of us, One who will stand beside us
through the darkest night; One who will hold us in the midst of the raging storm;
One who will set us free from the cages that hold us prisoner; One who will
empower us to receive the light of hope, trust in its promise and carry it in our
hearts to light our way into a future beyond anything we can dream of or
imagine, a future only God can see.
I'd like to close with a poem by Anne Weems from her book Kneeling in
Bethlehem. It is titled "The Christmas Spirit."
The Christmas Spirit
is that hope
which tenaciously clings
to the hearts of the faithful
and announces
in the face
of any Herod the world can produce
and all the inn doors slammed in our faces
and all the dark nights of our soul
that with God
all things are possible,
that even now
unto us
a child is born!
Hope that the way things are does not have to be the way things will be.
That's God's promise. May we dare to trust it, embrace it and carry it!
Amen.