2023.12.03 | Being Present with Hope
“Being Present with Hope”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Senior Minister & Executive Director
Eden United Church of Christ, Hayward, California
First Sunday in Advent, Dec 3, 2023
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 | Español
Today is the first Sunday in Advent, and the first day of a new year on the Christian calendar. The season of “Advent” is a time of “waiting,” “watching,” and “preparing” for Christmas. We decorate our homes and churches. We light Advent candles, create nacimientos, sing carols, practice the Christmas Pageant, and trot out ancient family recipes, cook for days, and put on a few pounds along the way.
Theologically speaking, Advent is a time when we live in the “already-not-yet.” On the one hand, we are already aware and celebrate the good news that Christ was born over 2000 years ago, and on the other, we are keenly aware that the mission of Christ has not yet been fulfilled.
As long as wars rage, injustice prevails anywhere, and hopes are dashed—we live in the not-yet of Advent. We live between the time when some of what was proclaimed by the prophets and evangelists has already been fulfilled, and the time when those visions will be completely realized.
The sharp contrast between what is and what will be is painful. That pain is felt most acutely by people whose nations are at war, those who live in poverty, those who are gravely ill or infirmed, those who are grieving, and those who are enduring great injustices.
The community out of which Psalm 80 originated is an example of a people living the “not-yet” of Advent. Hebrew Bible scholars generally agree that today’s psalm grew out of Ancient Northern Israel’s experience of calamity—most probably the devastation of war when the Assyrians conquered them in 721 BCE.
The Northern Tribe was convinced that they had angered God, and that their Great Shepherd had turned a deaf ear to their prayers and made them the laughing stock of their enemies. The Northern Israelites were a people in search of hope. They saw God as the source of hope, but it continually eluded them.
So, Psalm 80 begs the question: “Is despair our inevitable destination or might we be able to experience hope in our time and fan the embers of its flames into a roaring fire?”
II
My answer to Psalm 80’s question is that despair is not our destiny and that it is possible for us to experience hope in this world and the world to come. But how?
1) Hope in the Judeo-Christian tradition is a memory of God’s liberating work in the past, and the assurance that God will continue to do this work in the future.
Take the story of the Exodus for example. The freeing of the Hebrew slaves from bondage in Egypt was not an isolated event. The God of Israel was and is at work repeating this salvific narrative throughout human history.
God not only longed for and led Israel out of bondage, the God of Liberation and Justice longed for and has been working in and through every liberation movement, including the Labor Rights and Farm Worker Movements, the Black Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Apartheid movement, the Decolonization Movements of the South and East, the LGBTQI+ Civil Rights Movements, and the Feminist/Womanist/Mujerista Movements around the globe.
2) We can experience hope if we first attend to our grief.
It is impossible to experience hope while we are embroiled in grief. The process of writing Psalm 80, and repeating its verses in song and spoken word, were spiritual practices that had therapeutic effects on our ancestors in the faith. These practices provided occasions for them to describe their trauma, heal emotionally and spiritually, and regain a sense of hope in their lives.
Grief is uncomfortable, so it is natural for us to want to avoid it or race through it. But the truth is there is no quick way through a major loss in our lives, be that the death of a close friend or relative, the changes associated with a major health event, or the dissolution of marriage or a business partnership.
Recognizing the symptoms and stages of grief can help us process our feelings. Participating in a grief support group or individual counseling can help us gain insight and growth, so that we can heal and move forward in healthier ways.
3) We can foster hope for others through acts of bravery and solidarity.
San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay politician elected to public office, was famous for saying, “You gotta give ‘em hope.”
With this slogan Harvey Milk underscored the importance for young LGBTQI+ persons of seeing out and proud queer leaders serving in public life, rather than hiding in metaphorical closets, fearing for their lives, and loathing their identities.
Milk was also a tremendous coalition builder. He was quick to see the intersections of injustice and oppression, to help others make these connections, and get people working together instead of at cross purposes—for the good of all. Looking for and identifying common causes and maintaining solidarity with diverse groups of people will not only foster hope amongst individuals and particular identity groups, these approaches will move the whole mission of God forward through the ages.
3) We can nurture hope for others through our ministry of presence.
We UCC types are doers of the Word. We are better at expressing our faith in our actions than by using our words. As a result, we sometimes lose sight of the fundamental value of showing up. That is, until we are mature enough to appreciate the importance to us of people who have shown up in our lives.
As a frequent flier at funerals, I’ve noticed that when people come to the lectern to talk about their parent’s life, they have told stories about their parents serving as scout leaders, showing up at their extra curricular activities, and taking them on inexpensive family vacations.
They have not, by contrast, made mention of their parents’ professional successes, the cars they drove, or the real estate that they owned.
4) Our ultimate hope lies in heaven, which the world cannot give or take away.
We don’t speak much of death and the afterlife in our left-leaning Christian tradition. But we should. Because we all need to come to terms with the finite nature of our lives, and prepare ourselves and our loved ones for our demise.
This is partly because medical advances are not only extending our lives, they are extending our dying processes, and we and our loved ones are going to be forced into discernment processes that will be more about whether or not to treat our medical condition(s), rather than when and how to intervene.
It’s in times like these when we and our loved ones need to be clear about what constitutes a meaningful quality of life for us, and to remember that suffering is not our purpose, and death is not the end. There is a hope beyond this life that the world cannot give or take away.
III
To be sure, the biblical themes of Advent are starkly different from the “Happy Holidays” themes expressed by Madison Avenue. The prophets and evangelists challenge us to embrace that which is real, acknowledge the pain we have, and attend to the grief that we are suffering, so that we are prepared to receive the Hope of the Hope of the Universe. Amen.