Give Hope A Name

Text: Luke 21:25-36

What are you hoping for? Not just chocolate or good coffee, although those would be really nice to keep us engaged and awake during the service. I mean what do you really hope for from a deeper place within yourself, something you always longed for but you haven’t really expressed? That’s what I asked my teenage son, Peace. “I want to get better grades in high school, and I want to go to Japan as an exchange student” said Peace right away. I knew well how much Peace wants these things, and he’s been working toward those goals. But I needed to hear something more. So, I asked, “What do you hope for the family?” He said, “I want my family to be healthy and safe. If one of us gets sick and has to stay in the hospital, or even dies, it’s going to make a huge impact on the rest of us.” I thought that was a good answer. While we were on the topic, I asked even deeper. “What do you hope for the world?” Peace replied, “Oh gosh, there are so many things I hope for the world, but first, I want the government to care for the climate change more seriously. You know, instead of spending trillion dollars for the economy, why not investing billion dollars to slow climate change?” It was good to hear those words from Peace. That actually made me realize the common ground I share with him. When we name our hopes, we can discover how much we share in common as human beings. But we first have to know what it is we are hoping for beyond the list of ‘what I want for Christmas.’ 

So, let’s pause here for a moment. I invite you to give your hope a name. If a pen and paper are handy you can write down your answers. Or you’re welcome to whisper. What are you hoping for yourself? (pause) What do you hope for your family and loved ones? (pause) What do you hope for the world? (pause)

It’s in our hoping where advent begins. Advent means arrival. God has arrived, and continues to arrive through aching hearts, broken hearts, and unsatisfactory hearts – the hearts that always long to be complete and whole.

Are you feeling tired or even exhausted of the long-haul we have been in over the last 20 months? Are you worried or even terrified over what’s happening in Canada and around the world due to climate change? Are you upset or angry over the lack of responsibility and inaction from those in power? Are you sick and tired of the fact that people still have to fight to be treated as fully humans because of the skin they are in or the place they are from? Are you anxious about your family or friends because you don’t know whether they will get enough support they need? Are you worried about your own well-being whether you will be able to enjoy all the things that gave you joy? If so, be glad! For you are not far from God’s saving grace. As Luke declares, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

This is not about wishful or positive thinking. This is based on a deep understanding of how God works with us and through us. The apocalyptic scene Luke describes is not foreign to us in this climate crisis era. “The signs” are everywhere. Higher temperatures, more droughts, wildfires, wilder weather, changing rain and snow patterns, melting glaciers, warmer oceans, rising sea level, worldwide water shortages, and continued extinctions of species. It’s hard to stay optimistic when we see these catastrophic effects of climate change. So how can we understand what seems to be an impossible promise, “When you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near”? (Luke 21:31)  

The real question here is rather how we understand God as Christians. One of the root causes of climate change is dualistic thinking. It assumes a universe where there are only two contrasting, mutually exclusive choices, or realities. This either/or thinking has influenced our belief system and actions resulting in unnecessary division over so many areas in our lives: God and the world, body and mind, matter and spirit, sacred and mundane, good and evil, life and death, us and them. Christianity has inherited this way of thinking for many centuries in a way to give human beings a permission to dominate what deemed to be inferior: nature as if we are not part of it, and others as if our way of thinking and living is the standard. 

It’s never too late to recover from this harmful way of thinking and doing. We must reclaim the non-dualistic way of thinking for the sake of the well-being of the whole creation. Sant Augustine says, “Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not.” Though it needs further explanation, it provides a starting point to a breakthrough. 

For example, I’m beginning to rethink prayer. There are specific and designated times when I do pray. And I do believe in the power of prayer. But I’m beginning to understand prayer as a certain state I am in. Prayer is more about conscious union with God than what I say to God or ask from God. Prayer is about being present in the here and now, bringing all that I am to whatever I am doing, whether it’s washing dishes, brushing my teeth, talking on the phone. Prayer is about becoming more of myself and living as myself – as the one God intends me to be. This way of understanding prayer helps me to feel more close God. I am beginning to embrace my longings – the longing for my family in Korea, the yearning for justice and love, the aching for climate justice and a sustainable future. I believe we are not alone in our longing. Our longing is God’s way of reaching out to us – God’s way of praying for us and with us. God has created and is creating through our longings. So, where did you hear God praying? Through what longing did God come to you recently? 

I don’t know if 18-year-old Greta Thunberg is Christian or even knows what the season of Advent is about – but it seems that God is working through her; her voice is calling us. “Hope is telling the truth, hope is taking action, and hope always comes from the people.”