A New Spirit of Hope
Romans 5:1-5
June 16, 17, 2007

Again, Happy Father's Day! I realize that offering such a greeting may evoke a variety of emotions from you-depending on your family situation and relationship with your father. And yet, I hope that this day encourages a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving for the gifts of our fathers. And if the memories are not so good, I hope this day can offer an invitation and challenge to a new generation to create more meaningful and memorable moments.

One young man, a preacher's kid, remembers a story about his father. One day his father walked into the living room. The young man noticed that his younger brother, John, began to cower slightly as his father entered the room. Something told him that John had done something wrong. Then he saw from a distance what his brother had done. The younger boy had opened his father's brand new hymnal and scribbled all over the first page with a pen. Staring at their father fearfully, both brothers waited for John's punishment. Their father picked up his prized hymnal, looked at it carefully and then sat down, without saying a word. Books were precious to him; for him, they were knowledge. But what the father did next was remarkable. Instead of punishing his brother, instead of scolding, or yelling, his father took the pen from the little boy's hand. Then he wrote in the book himself, alongside the scribbles that John had made. Here is what that father wrote: "John's work, age 2." "How many times have I looked into your beautiful face and into your warm, alert eyes looking up at me and thanked God for the one who has now scribbled in my new hymnal." "You have made the book sacred, as have your brother and sister to so much of my life." The young man thinks about that hymnal often-it has become a treasured family possession, tangible proof that their parents loved them. His father's unexpected reaction taught them that what really matters is people, not objects; patience, not judgment; love, not anger.

Do you have similar stories that you can share? Or do you long for parents and family members to treat you that way? Do you trust in a God who will treat you that way?

IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE LESSON, PAUL PROCLAIMS THAT WE HAVE THAT KIND OF GOD. Today we are thinking about another characteristic of the gift of the Spirit that God has given to us. The season of Pentecost began a few weeks ago, and we have been considering various qualities of the Spirit. The past couple of weeks, we recognized the Holy Spirit as a spirit of peace and a spirit of truth. Today we have heard the Good News that the Holy Spirit is a spirit of hope.

In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul really gets our attention! He offers powerful words about "justification by grace through faith," one of the foundational phrases for the Protestant Reformation. But as we move through chapter 4 and begin chapter 5, Paul lets us know that there is another important dimension to our relationship with God. There is "hope." He alludes to Abraham and Sarah's situation-you remember that old couple who started their family a little later in life than most folks! According to Paul, they were "as good as dead!" But "hoping against hope," they believed that they would become the parents of many nations. Then Paul moves into an extended examination of the spiritual life-what it means to be those who receive God's gift of the Spirit. He begins to describe how a Spirit-filled Christian life should be lived. Paul reminds us that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Incredibly, we have access through Jesus to this grace we so desperately need! And we can't boast about any of these things-they are graceful gifts from God! Then Paul talks about the ways these gifts of grace should be visibly demonstrated. As people of God, there is no such virtue as "noble suffering." There should be only "humble suffering"-suffering experienced with an awareness of Jesus' suffering. Rightly understood, our struggles can lead to another virtue-endurance-not some passive victimization by our problems, but courage in the face of them. Suffering and endurance can encourage Christian character-which carries a literally meaning of being "proved and tested."

And these three virtues-suffering, endurance, character-complete a circle that promises and sustains hope! This is one of God's great, life-giving, recycling programs! For Paul, hope has come-and hope is yet to come. We live with hope-and yet we also hope and pray for the time when the realm of God will be fully realized in our midst. Paul connects this hope to the ongoing vitality of God's love, "poured into our hearts" by the Holy Spirit, which revives us and sustains us.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A PERSON OF HOPE? "Hope" is one of a number of significant theological words that tends to lose its power and punch in the way we use it in our conversations. Sometimes we throw good "God-words" around too lightly and loosely-"Oh, I just love that!"-"Peace out, baby!" We confuse temporary pleasure and happiness for God-given joy. And we hope for things that may not be all that high on God's priority list.

Lucy and Linus were talking about hope recently-their conversation was recorded in last Wednesday's newspaper. Lucy says, "You know what we're going to do tomorrow?" "Patty and Violet and I are going on a picnic!" "I just hope to goodness it doesn't rain…." Linus replies, "'Hoping to goodness' is not theologically sound!" Linus got Lucy-and he got me too!

How often do we "demean" the meaning of the word "hope?" We hope it's sunny for our picnics, we hope our team wins, we hope they get the correct toppings on our pizza, we hope that our favorite show won't be a rerun, we hope for our American Idol to be chosen, we hope not to hear another story about Paris Hilton, we hope not to hear more complaints about the end of The Sopranos, we hope to win the lottery, we hope…we hope!

Meanwhile, for what does God hope? For an end to poverty, injustice, and hunger? For an end to dissension and strife and war? For an end to ethnic cleansing and global apathy? For the health and well-being of the environment? And I wonder if God hopes that we will do something about these things?

I saw another cartoon that Linus might think is more theologically appropriate. A man is opening a package on Father's Day. Taking the wrapping off, he looks around at his family and exclaims, "This is perfect!" "You got me exactly what I needed to exchange for what I wanted!"

Sometimes we have to work with what we have-and sometimes we need to exchange what life gives us for something better. There are times when we need to reclaim the language of God, the language of the Spirit, the language of hope. There are times when we need to lean in a God-ward direction when life presents us with very difficult and demanding circumstances. There are times when the world cries out, "Give up, life doesn't matter, God has left the planet."

And yet we, like Abraham and Sarah-"hope against hope" that the future is in the hands of God. You know about those times-those times when we use the "H" word not just to wish for a sunny day-but as a gut-wrenching, knee-bruising, heart-felt prayer. We hope that he will stop drinking. We hope that she will stop using drugs. We hope that the marriage will last. We hope that our family will get along. We hope that the tests are negative. We hope that it is not cancer. We hope that she will not die. We hope that the war will end. We hope that God hears our prayers. And often, our suffering becomes fertile ground for God's seeds of hope.

Christian Reger survived four years of brutal imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau near Munich. Later, incredibly, he served as the Chaplain of the Protestant Chapel on the grounds of Dachau. Reger explained, "Nietzsche said that we can undergo torture if we know the why of life." "But I, here at Dachau, learned something far greater-I learned to know the Who of my life." "God was enough to sustain me then, and is enough to sustain me still." Emil Brunner once put it this way: "What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of life."

Friends, this is the promise of the Gospel. Even and especially in the face of the worst the world can throw our way, the "Who" of our lives empowers us to hope against hope. We have a rich and inspiring legacy-from Abraham and Sarah to the Apostle Paul to Jesus-the worst has given way to the best. On his way to death, Justin Martyr penned words of faith and love that have endured for centuries. Out of his experience with a corrupted, dead, institutionalized faith, Martin Luther re-read the Bible and breathed the fresh winds of Reformation back into the Church. Stone-deaf Beethoven composed music so moving that it continues to bring listeners to tears. Ministering in New York's "Hell's Kitchen," Walter Rauschenbusch shook up the Church once more with his call for a "social gospel." Choosing the very worst slums of Calcutta for her mission, Mother Teresa's order now reaches millions as a witness for God's love and compassion. And we don't even have to look beyond the walls of this church or to history books or to the Internet. We see hope incarnate in the lives of people like Rev. Mary Beth Guy and the Johnson family and so many others who live out their lives quietly, steadily, courageously, and faithfully.

It is hope, given to us by God that enables us to endure! It is the hope of completion. It is the hope of the "not yet" being the "now. It is the hope of the glory of God! Some years ago Emily Dickinson eloquently captured the enduring nature of hope. "Hope is the thing with feathers…that perches in the soul." "And sings the tune without the words." "And never stops at all…." Come, Holy Spirit! Come, Heavenly Dove. Come, Spirit of Hope.