Keep hope alive!

In 1988, Rev. Jesse Jackson made an unsuccessful run for the Democratic Nomination for President, losing out to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.  At the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta that year, he gave his famous speech which ended with the words, “Keep hope alive!”

In the midst of this world-wide pandemic is there a reason to have hope?  Not optimism that “things will get back to normal,” or that it’s “safe to go back to work” or that “everything will be alright, just as it always has been.”  Not a denial of reality, a refusal to see or understand the scope of suffering all around us.  That’s clearly not hope.  Hope is clear eyed.  It sees reality in some measure that God sees reality.  It doesn’t appear to be in great supply on the airwaves just now – at least in the U.S.

In the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of the sick, the bewilderment of those who may not attend Church,  the fear of those put out of work, the anger of those who feel that they have lost control over their own lives, in the confusion of students from graduate school to first grade trying to understand how to learn in a new environment, are any of us ready to give a reason for our hope?   

“Always be ready to give an explanation for your hope” says Saint Peter in his first letter to the early Church (1 Peter 3:15-18); reminding them that thanks to the unsurpassable love that God has shown us in Christ, we have nothing to fear, no reason to be anxious, and certainly no cause for despair no matter what life might throw at us.  Am I ready?  I ask myself this question almost daily.  Can I give an explanation for my hope?  Do I have any hope to explain?

Philip traveled to Samaria, proclaimed the gospel, and a newly born church sprang to life.  People with “unclean spirits” were set free while the “paralyzed or crippled” were made whole.  No wonder there was “great joy in that city.”  And, I might add—Hope. (Acts 8:5-8, 14-17)

Perhaps the most reassuring words we should hear today come from Jesus, who tells us, “I will not leave you orphaned.” (John 14:15-21) Is there anything more reassuring, anything more consoling?  We shouldn’t panic. We should never let sadness, fear, or anxiety rule our hearts because Christ won’t forsake us. No matter what adversity might come our way, we never face it alone because the Christ who promised to be with us is closer to us than we are to ourselves.

I don’t know how things will be two months from today.  I don’t know if the world will have returned to ‘normal’.  But I do know that no matter what might be happening, we can take to heart the joy, hope, peace, and love that we read about in the Bible passages above.  And that’s because, as Jesus tells us, “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”  (John 14:20)