Hope for the Future?

            The most recent issue of the Canada Lutheran (July/Aug, p. 6) contains an interesting quote from a perhaps unlikely source: Lieutenant-General The Honourable Roméo A. Dallaire.  He says that a “lack of hope in the future is the root cause of rage.  If we cannot provide hope for the untold masses of the world, then the future will be nothing but a repeat of Rwanda, Sierra Leone, the Congo and September 11.”

            This quote caught my attention for several reasons.  First, there seem to be a lot of angry people around these days, and perhaps those same people don’t have much hope in the future.  Second, the Scriptures reveal the God who gives “a future with hope” (Jer. 29:11), and Jesus, who is “our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1).  Is it not Christians who should have hope to share with the world?

            Now, admittedly, doing anything that would give hope to “the untold masses of the world” is no small feat.  At the same time, however, there are people much closer to home who don’t have much hope in the future, either – perhaps even some of us!

            When I think about what has happened in the past in big cities during blackouts, it seems to be the people who feel like they have nothing to lose who are out smashing store windows and looting.  If you are living in the midst of poverty and injustice, and don’t see any way out of that situation, why not?  It is a way to lash out against “the man” (whoever that is).  There is also a sense of hopelessness that is connected to drug use.  Why not fry your brain if there’s no hope for the future anyways?

            Now, I don’t know if a lack of hope in the future is actually the root cause of rage, but the two definitely go together.  I also believe that when people are in a community that is centered around Jesus, hope abounds, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and here’s why:

            In a community centered around Jesus, material blessings are shared so that nobody goes hungry or goes without.  Each person is valued and respected and encouraged to use their God-given gifts.  People fight against injustice, speak the truth in love, play together and pray together.  People put the well-being of the whole community ahead of their own wants and needs, and strive to include those who are on the outside looking in.  In a community centered around Jesus, people experience the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise, “remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20).

            Utopian? – perhaps - but this is life in the kingdom of God, which Jesus both proclaimed and initiated, and this is the kind of community that we are all called to work towards, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  For, in any place where the followers of Jesus actually live in love, there is hope – not only for the future, but right now.

            And now, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).  Amen.  May it be so!

            In Christ,

            Pastor Lynne Hutchison