(I had intended in this sermon to walk through the
congregation asking people to tell stories of where they saw hope, courage,
compassion, and confidence. We had a damaging ice storm the night before. Many
people had no electricity. We cancelled the early church service because both
driveways of the church were blocked with fallen tree limbs and roads were
still icy. Attendance at the later service as so low it would have been
difficult to pull this off well.)
“Stand up and raise your heads!” Wait. What? Stand up
and raise our heads when there are signs in the sun, moon, and stars? Stand up
and raise our heads when there is distress among nations? Stand up and raise
our heads when others faint from fear of what is coming upon the world? Stand
up and raise our heads when the heavens are shaken? What kind of crazy person
is Jesus to tell us stand up and raise our heads because our redemption is
drawing near?
Could it be Jesus is telling us quit worrying and
obsessing about when this may happen? Could it be he is telling us to stop
worrying about what may happen and start thinking about what we do in the
meantime? And perhaps this is the Jesus Way: to reject both hopelessness and
worrying, and equally so reject our pursuit of empty pleasures and things. If
you think about Jesus and how he led his life, even knowing he was on his way
to crucifixion, he lived in the meantime. He lived in the meantime between the
presence of huge evil and the coming of eternal good.
He lived this way because violence is never the
greatest threat. The greatest threat is fear. Fear causes us to do all kinds of
things when we are in its iron grip. So what’s the solution?
Well, how about this? Do you read mysteries? Watch
them on television? Live stream them on your laptop? If you do, you know that
every mystery has in it the hope of something. It can be the solving of the
crime. It can be the perpetrator brought to justice. It can mean old wounds
being healed. It can mean the innocent being set free. Does this sound
familiar? Does this sound like what Jesus is saying to us?
I’ve a challenge for you this morning to enter the
mystery of the Gospel. Want to follow Jesus? Become a Hope Detective![1] (Here is
where I pulled on a deerstalker-style cap and got out magnifying glass.)
Where do you see hope? Where do you see courage,
compassion, and confidence? Where do you see these things despite despair and
violence? Where do you see these things despite everything that is happening in
the world around us?
Where did you see hope?
Where did you see courage? Where did you see
compassion? When did you see compassion? Where did you see confidence?
When we become Hope Detectives we see God at work in
the world. When we stand up or when we raise our heads, our range of vision
increases and we can see our redemption drawing near. We can see it because we
can increase our vision by seeing what God sees in us. God sees the hope that
is in us. God sees our courage to go forth in the name of Christ. God sees the
compassion we have for others. God sees the confidence that is in us.
When we reject hopelessness and worrying, and our
pursuit of empty pleasures and things we become Hope Detectives. We remember
who we are: God’s people doing God’s work. And we remember what we believe: That
we are God’s hands and feet and hearts in the world.
Be a Hope Detective! Live in hope. Live in courage.
Live in compassion. Live in confidence. That is what we shall do in the
meantime. Stand up! Raise your head! AMEN!
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2015
[1]
From a comment online that Dr Jacqueline Bussie, religion professor at
Concordia Seminary, challenged people to become “hope detectives.” She is the
author of The Laughter of the Oppressed,
Bloomsbury T&T Clark. 2007.
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