Day 142 - Why hope?
Scripture focus: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1 NIV
I love the worship community where God has planted me. It's a messy place, where the Frank's and Cathy's of the world come and stay awhile. Sometimes they disappear, and we don't know the outcome of our loving. Others stay and settle in, making it their home. I think the ones who stay have the gift of courage. It's no easy thing to live in a community that mourns and celebrates in riotous, chaotic fashion every time two or more gather. A few Sundays ago, one of our community returned after being "out there" for awhile. His "out there" had been a multi-month relapse. We celebrated his return. The return was short-lived. Rumor has it that he's back out on the street, doing that thing he knows so well - suffering. He may die out there, and we may never know. He may continue to live on the streets for forty years - harming self and others. He may show up next week, worse for the wear but ready to try again. Only God knows the outcome. I told a friend how much it hurt to know my friend was on the streets; my friend wants to know why I don't find a new place to plant - maybe get a job in a coffee shop and learn how to make expensive expressos and luscious lattes. I explained to my friend that suffering is a part of loving and an essential pre-requisite if I want to have a life of hope. My friend doesn't really understand this, but that's ok, she's the kind of friend who doesn't have to understand everything to love a friend in pain.
When God sent Jesus out into the world, he gave Jesus a mission. As Jesus' mission neared completion, he sent his people out on mission too. He audaciously claimed that his followers would do even greater things than he himself had done (a statement I cannot comprehend, but he said it so there must be something to it). So when Isaiah 61 pops up on my reading radar, I take seriously the hope found in these verses. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me. we've been promised the Holy Spirit, God's presence, Jesus' advocacy for our cause. He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. Jesus' mission; our opportunity to do the same. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. I don't know of a people in our community who are more brokenhearted, captivated and dwelling in darkness than the addicted and their families. I love my worship community because they are so darn relentless in their hope. They understand the mission of proclamation and the potential for release. They hope when good, solid evidence claims that hope is a pipe dream. They hope when it hurts. They hope when it would make more sense to trust in things you can really count on - like a Starbuck's on every corner. They hope when the act of hoping means that sometimes they get dirt kicked in their faces. They hope on behalf of others, and perhaps the harder thing - they hope for God's saving grace in their own lives. They hope without expectation of good outcomes. They hope because God said we must. It takes a big heart and a large dose of courage to trust in things not yet seen. And whether my friend who is living in a box knows this or not - we hope on his behalf. We believe that when God said he had good news for the poor, balm for the brokenhearted, the possibility of freedom for the captive, and release from darkness for the prisoner - God had him in mind. And so must we. May your day be filled with huge hope - the kind of crazy, illogical, large loving hope that only makes sense when we trust God with the outcome.
Recommended reading: 1 Samuel 26 and 27 in the morning; 1 Samuel 28 and John 11 in the evening
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