Finding Hope in Our Choices

Dawn is the color of hope, the faint glimmer of possibility and newness. This first light always feeds my soul. As the stars fade and silver turns to peach on the horizon, my heart opens with gratitude for life and breath and imagination -- the ability to see a different future than the one we might predict from past events. Hope quickens my life with anticipation.

Hope flares even in the face of enormous obstacles. I've met her where poverty, cruelty and illness seem overwhelming. Indeed, hope is often more visible when reason and circumstance reach a dead-end. We see hope in the ways that parents sacrifice for their children, prisoners smuggle their words past vigilant guards and the dying write poems for another generation. And when we can imagine a future generation, we see the present with new eyes. For instance, from the vantage point of a person living a century from now, we can see the consequences of nuclear waste or water pollution and perhaps find a different way of living together in the present. Such hope is central to our capacity for change!

Hope is more than mere optimism, more than believing that everything will turn out all right in the end. That kind of happy hopefulness can be an excuse for maintaining the status quo. I'm suspicious of those Christians who put too much emphasis on the Second Coming, as though we did not carry the responsibility for birthing hope into the world though our bodies, letting ourselves incarnate the Holy Spirit in this time and place as Jesus did in his.

Sometimes we use the word, hope, to describe our wishful thinking: "I hope it doesn't rain today," "I'm hoping for a raise," or, in dire straits, "We've tried everything else. Now there's nothing left but hope." Then, if things don't turn out as we want them to, we blame God or the weather or other people or possibly ourselves for failing to produce the desired result. Even positive imaging, which many people use to enhance performance or health, skates close to expectation and may lead to disappointment, even despair, if we don't succeed. Expectations rule out surprise and narrow our vision. While setting goals and planning results are important for getting things accomplished, biblical hope is bigger and more open-ended than what we can anticipate. Paul writes to the church in Rome, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace." (15:13) He knew they were struggling to survive. He knew their lives were not easy. Still he could promise the "God of hope.

Despair sees the future as closed and determined, trapped in an endless cycle. Hope sees an open door! When faith crumbles and love fades, hope really begins its work -- or we die. In this age of too many options, we must learn to make a home for the holy or we will be caught in the endless cycle of putting our energies into unreliable things. The "God of hope" can help us see how to focus on what is life-giving and sustainable. A daily practice of silence and re-collection, of listening for God's direction, can encourage hope to reveal our next steps.

In this issue of Faith@Work, we explore the theme of "Finding Hope in Our Choices." In subsequent issues, we will explore finding hope in our children (2), in community (3) and in our caring (4). As we enter a new century, our feature writers describe the practical consequences of making hopeful choices -- in our use of time, money and intention. Our regular writers are grouped together in the back of the magazine so you can find them more easily. Let us know how you like the new format -- and remember Faith At Work in your sunrise prayers. [If you have questions about submitting an article, contact us.]

Marjory Bankson is president of Faith at Work and is a Steward of The Seekers Church, a faith community of Church of the Saviour in Washington DC.