Candle Messages: Hope

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Revelation 21:1-8
November 28, 2010

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

When you’re faced with an obstacle, faced with something that completely gets in your way, how do you respond? When things don’t go your way and you don’t know what to do, what do you do? When your life goes into a difficult time, how do you respond? Do you react cynically or hopefully? Do you tend throw your hands up and say, “See, this is how things always go—I don’t get a break!” Or do you say, in some shape or form, “With God there is always a way”?

How we respond to difficulties determines, to a great extent, how well we see God working in our lives. Tim Zimmerman understood this belief. Zimmerman found that shifting from a cynical to a hopeful perspective can make all the difference in life. A number of years ago, Zimmerman had to work on Thanksgiving Day. He worked for the Maryland State Welfare office, manning the phones, and he was bummed. All morning long, all he could think of was the fact that all his family was together, they were going to be eating soon and watching football, and it bothered him.

Then a phone call came in from a Mrs. B, a woman who was having problems with her EBT card, a credit card issued by the welfare office that acted like food stamps. She said that she had been saving $10 on it from last month so that she could match it with her $10 from this month. She had been saving it so that she could get food for Thanksgiving to have a meal with her children. Now her children couldn’t make it, and she couldn’t access the $10 from the previous month. The store kept telling her that the card was invalid.

It took Zimmerman only a few minutes to figure out what the problem was. Mrs. B. hadn’t realized that the card was only a temporary card, and that it expired at the end of the month, so she had lost her $10. Zimmerman then asked her if she had any food in her apartment. Mrs. B. said, “Not really. I had been trying to save up for Thanksgiving.” Zimmerman, thinking that this was not right, told Mrs. B. that he wanted to make some phone calls to see if he can get her local grocery store to accept credit from the welfare office and deliver food to Mrs. B. He called the grocery store, but they said that they couldn’t take credit over the phone, even from the welfare office, and that they couldn’t deliver anyway because they were short-staffed.

Zimmerman felt overwhelmed at this point, not knowing what to do, but he had hope. He believed that he could find a way. He asked some of his coworkers to join him and to call around to supermarkets in the area. They couldn’t find any that were open. More coworkers joined them, but no matter how many places they called, none were open. Finally, Zimmerman thought to call the Chesapeake Beef Company. He knew the owners, and thought that they would surely be willing to help. Again there was no answer.

They decided to call the owners at home to see if they would be willing to help. The owners, Maria and Stan Wasiliski, answered and listened. Stan told Zimmerman that he couldn’t open the store, but that they had just finished their Thanksgiving dinner, and they had lots of food left over. Mrs. B.’s home was only fifteen miles away. What if they took food from their dinner to her? Their children could make cards, and it would give them a chance to give to others on Thanksgiving. The only thing they asked of Zimmerman was that he call Mrs. B. to let her know they were coming.

Again, there was a glitch. They didn’t actually have Mrs. B.’s phone number on file. They only had a name and an address, and her number was unlisted. So they called the operator, explaining the situation, and asking her to connect them. The operator said that she couldn’t, but that she would call Mrs. B. and ask her to call the welfare office. Finally, it all worked out after she called.

Later that day, Zimmerman received a call from Maria Wasiliski. She said, “It was wonderful. Mrs. B. was so touched by our coming there. She opened and read each card from our children, and afterwards she asked if she could have permission to hug each of them. She had tears in her eyes after each hug. Then she said to us, ‘You know, I’ve been a Christian my whole life, and I’ve prayed, but lately it’s been so hard. I’ve been wondering where God is in all my struggles. I was ready to let go of my faith. But today I really know that God is alive and here with me.’”

When we have hope, anything can happen. The people in the welfare office had hope. They looked for what can happen, rather than at what normally should happen. Instead of giving into cynicism, they gave into hope, and for us Christians, it’s hope that makes all the difference.

The fact is that it is very, very easy to let cynicism run our lives. It’s very, very easy to look at what’s wrong instead of what’s right, to focus on obstacles instead of on how to overcome them. We all do it. We all give in to cynicism. Have you ever found yourself saying to someone else, “Oh, the schools these days! Why can’t teachers care more about teaching than about money!” Or, “Kids these days! We were never like this! They’re all so whiney and helpless.” Or “You can’t get good service anywhere. No one cares about customer service. They’re all in it for themselves!” In fact, cynicism follows a formula: “Oh, the ____ these days! Back in my day, we _____________!”

Frankly, I think the primary problem of our country is our cynicism. All people do is complain about politicians, about liberals and conservatives, about the people in power and replacing them with new people (who we’ll complain about once they get into power). People on the right complain that the country’s going to hell in a hand basket because liberals are running it. Then those on the left complain that if the conservatives get power, they will ruin this country. Those on the right are cynical about those on the left, thinking they are socialists, and those on the left are cynical about those on the right, thinking they are fascists. It’s as though we’ve become so cynical that we think the country can’t actually survive actual democracy. We’re so cynical about democracy that we have no hope in democracy even though we believe in democracy. I guess, though, for Republicans and Democrats, democracy only works when one party rules,… although at that point don’t we become fascist? It’s ironic. We’ve become so cynical that we think that only one party rule can save democracy.

The Christian way is a way that refuses to give in to cynicism about anything. The Christian way always remembers that God’s light shines most in the darkness, and that there’s always hope. Reflect on the Bible stories. The Bible is filled with light in the darkness stories. For example, Joseph was sold into slavery, and then imprisoned, but he rose to greatness, managing to save his family that was suffering from hunger during the great 7 years of drought. Moses was a murderer living in exile in the desert, but he was brought out of exile to lead the Israelites out of the darkness of slavery. The Jews were enslaved twice—in Egypt and in Babylon—but God restored them. The message of the prophets was always that even though bad things were going to happen, God was going to be good to them and bless them if they had faith. The birth of Jesus is a story of hope. And the cross is the ultimate Christian hope story. When Jesus died on the cross, all hope was gone. But people didn’t see what God was actually doing. When Christ was resurrected it showed that God was bringing light to even the darkest times. Our whole faith is built upon having hope when things seem hopeless.

Hope means always having faith, even when it seems like there is no reason for it. It’s being realistic about the way things are, but also believing that if we are patient, God will respond to our prayer. Hope means knowing that behind the scenes God is doing stuff to make things better, but we don’t know what. It means believing that even though things seem bleak, God is doing something unexpected to make things right.

Let me give you a metaphor for what I’m talking about. A few years ago a father in Scotland called his son in London several days before Christmas Eve. He sounded so sad and angry. He said to his son, "I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing. Forty-five years of misery is enough!"

"Dad, what are you talking about?'" the son screamed. “How can you get divorced now after a lifetime together?”

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer", he said. "We're sick of each other and I'm sick of talking about this. You call your sister in Leeds and tell her. I don’t have the stomach for it.”

Frantically, the son called his sister, who exploded on the phone, saying, "Like hell they're getting divorced! I'll take care of this.”

She called Scotland immediately and screamed at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing. DO YOU HEAR ME?" She then hung up.

The old man hung up his phone, turned to his wife, and said. "Done! They're coming for Christmas. And they're paying their own way."

Not to use too cynical a joke, but this is the way God works, too. God does things that we think mean God is acting one way, but in the end we find out that God was doing something completely different. We lose hope because we can’t see what God is doing behind the scenes. But if we are willing to hope, we will discover that what God is doing is so much more than we ever expect.

Advent is a celebration of hope, of believing that good things can come out of bad, that in the darkest times a spark of light is always present. It celebrates that if you hold fast to God, have faith, and be patient, good things are going to happen.

Amen.