Twitter Facebook Youtube Facebook

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Living a Hope-Filled Life

Do you have that friend or family member in your life that God is always working things out for?  You know the type.  "I didn’t have money for the rent, and on the day it was due, money came in the mail" or "I was praying for a neighbor, and God worked such a miracle in his life."  I have a friend like that.  A friend who always has a God story to tell me.

My friend and I are very different.  I'm organized and logical and my friend is, well, not.  I used to think if she just planned better or made better decisions, God wouldn't need to intervene so often.  And while sometimes better planning on her part would eliminate some of the situations she finds herself in, there is something else at work here that I learned from her.


My friend expects to see God work.  She actually believes what the Bible says about trusting God to supply her needs, to listen to her concerns, to make things work out for God's plan, and then she finishes it off by giving God all the glory.  She lives a life of hope.


It's very difficult for us to grasp what hope actually means because the biblical and theological understanding of "hope" is far different than how we use this word today.  When we talk about "hope," we think about some sort of internal feeling, a wish that something we want to have happen will happen; or it won't happen whatever the case may be.


"I hope it doesn’t rain."
"I hope my sports team wins."
"I hope I can find a job."


But the hope of the Bible is very different than wishful thinking.  The Greek word for hope is "elpis" which means to expect or anticipate with pleasure.  This is an absolute, a guarantee without a doubt.


Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India was an amazing example of hope.  This nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950 ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying for 45 years. 


We have heard the stories and seen the pictures of her selfless caring for the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.  After her death, the journals of Mother Teresa were published, and to the amazement of almost everyone, we learned that for fifty years – throughout her ministry in Calcutt
a – she wrote over and over again about experiencing a profound absence of God.

One might have imagined that this great saint would have had regular, intimate, mystical experiences of God.  After all, how could she have been so selfless in her devoted care for others without a steady sense of God's comforting presence?  How could she have possibly known what God wanted of her without a firm sense of divine guidance?  But not so, she felt abandoned by God, dry, empty
a fifty year dark night of the soul.

And yet, through it all, she kept going on.  Every day, patiently persevering, acting as if the God she couldn't see was actually in the midst of the darkness she felt.  Every day going to Mass, saying her prayers, living in community with her nuns, feeding the hungry, comforting the dying – day in, day out patiently persevering.  She wasn't relying on human hope.  If so, how long would she have lasted in her work?  She woke up every day relying on biblical hope.  The hope promised in the Bible.


What a powerful example of what hope is all about:  Living as if God is present even when He seems absent.


As Mother Teresa experienced and wrote about, most of the time we don't get answers.  We don't walk about every day with an abiding sense of God's presence.  In our difficult times, we may be led to believe that God is absent, unconcerned, or we just aren't tuned in to Him.


This is the message of the Gospel:  in the midst of the chaos, when God seems nowhere to be found, God is actually there.  As Julian of Norwich wrote – all is well, all will be well.  So have patience, for the kingdom of God is breaking through.


Our choice comes down to cynicism and despair or hope.  Hope is a decision we make; it is a choice; it is a lifestyle.  It's not a feeling, a state of mind, or a personality trait.  Hebrews 11:1 states "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."


Or to paraphrase it 
hope is believing in spite of the evidence, and watching  expecting the evidence change.

Will hope change my circumstances?  No.  But it will definitely change my attitude and actions.


When we live a life of biblical hope, we proclaim that even when God seems distant or invisible, even when we don't see God or when we feel alone or abandoned, we will act as if God is present.  We will get up every day and persevere.  We will hope.


So what does this hope look like?
We meet with other believers.
We serve the needs of others. 

We go out into our lives every day and live a life of compassion, treating others with dignity.
We keep praying.


Live this Christmas season and coming year with real, biblical hope and expectation.  Be hope in action, doing your part in building up the kingdom day in and day out.


Choose to be hope-filled, with a hope rooted in faith.  Hope that is patiently persevering – living life as if God is truly present and abiding even when it may seem otherwise.


One last thing.  The friend I spoke of earlier, it's one of those interesting things in life. 
 

Her name is Hope.

Written by Patty Craft
Grants Manager, The Salvation Army New Jersey Division

Friday, December 11, 2015

Blessed

Some friends stay close even when life moves us away from each other.  But the vast majority of people in our everyday lives fall away if work or family takes us to a new location.  They exist only in our memories as we move through life.  But this age of technology we live in keeps us connected to those marginal friends in ways never experienced before.  An email I received from a friend this week brought me news of a lady in a church I served at as Associate Pastor a number of years ago.  As I wrote her a note of encouragement, I was reminded of a conversation we had one Sunday morning before church.

Early one morning, I was at the door when she arrived for Sunday service; a nice lady who had lived a hard life. The personal hardships in her life could guide her mood into a grumpy or unhappy state. Her physical disabilities limited her actions and tired her mind and body.  Her German ethnicity could come across to Americans as harsh or cold at times.  While our conversations were pleasant, I often left feeling sadness over her circumstances.  But this one morning she took me completely by surprise.

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I had no idea if she spent the holiday with family or friends, or if it was like any other solitary day for her.  When I asked how her Thanksgiving was, she smiled a big smile and with a twinkle in her eye, she simply said, "Blessed."  What could have happened around her complicated life that moved her so?  Our time together ended quickly as I was called away to other responsibilities.  I was unable to learn the secret behind her smile.  I do know that nothing had changed about her daily life or physical abilities.  Nothing was different about her, except her attitude.

Had she been invited to a family celebration over the weekend?  Was the care and attention given to her something she had long forgotten or never even experienced before?  Did she experience Jesus because others made space for her in their lives?  For the first time I left with a warm feeling inside.  Someone or something blessed her.  Now, she had passed this blessing on to me.

I once worked with a woman with twin teenage boys.  In the afternoons, I would sometimes overhear her on the phone with one of them.  It would be a check-in before they went on to after school activities.  She would often end her conversation with them by reminding them to "be a blessing" in whatever they were doing. I imagined them rolling their eyes on the other end of the line -- the weird thing Mom always says.  But I found it a wonderful thought.  What if we kept that thought closer to the front of our minds?

It makes me ask, "Have I done anything to change someone’s attitude?  Could I be the cause of someone feeling blessed today?"

Can I speak positive words about a friend to someone else?
Can I go out of my way to assist someone?
Can my family experience blessings from me instead of the remnants of my tiring day?

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 says "Remember this -- a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop.  But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.  You must each decide in your heart how much to give.  And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure.  For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."

We typically use these verses in reference to money.  But it can also be applied to how we spend our time and interact with each other. Are we generous with our praise, our time, our concern?  There is a saying, "Spend kindness like it is money and pretend you are a billionaire."  Think of ways you can spend kindness on someone.  A way you can be a blessing to friends or strangers.  Put it on your to do list every day.  And then go out and spend like you are a billionaire.  


Written by Patty Craft
Grants Manager, The Salvation Army New Jersey Division