Friday 29 June 2007

Walter Brueggeman notes four necessary components for the practice of hope shared by Jews and Christians. Today we look at #1.



Hope requires a Source and Agent of newness who is, in inscrutable ways, generative, who is not imprisoned in old habits or present-tense commitments. That, of course, is a theological statement about the character of God that Jews and Christians commonly confess. Thus I begin with the affirmation that hope is theologically grounded, which of course stacks the cards at the outset. But the alternative to such an agency that stands outside present arrangements is to find ground for hope within present life arrangements themselves, a strategy that inescapably produces the absolutizing of some power arrangement that soon or late becomes idolatrous and self-destructive. The Exodus narrative is clear assertion of hope introduced into the slave community from outside the Pharaonic system of abuse and exploitation.



Our present day atheist voices would argue that we can and must have faith not in a god but instead place our hope in the arena of the greatest of humanity and it potential for creating new and just ways of life among us. I would say that is always good too. And yet, it has been our humanity that has clutter and ruined the vision of hope within the story of our God for us. The example of the Exodus is a good one to take up. The story of our God who can turn things around and liberate those who are oppressed in this world is one of great encouragement and hope. It was to be the beginning of a whole new way of being people. This liberation would bring Israel into a new light - a light to the nations...shall we say. A light that would lift us into a new way of being people in community. A light that would carry the world into a place in which the oppressive structures of Pharaoh would not be the structures that continue to be the witness of God's people. But, the people not the vision falls short. As soon as Israel has power they use it not for the welfare of all and not as a long-hoped-for light to the world. Rather, they stumble and fall because they are a people who, like all of us, are turned-in-on themselves. Justice falls to the side. Peace is ignored. Mercy is forgotten. That is the biblical witness. If we go beyond that witness, we can see the both Christians and Jews lift up the vision of hope and then somehow fall into the pattern of the world rather than stretch out into what is promised. Hope does not let us be content with what is or what is simply on our list of wants. Hope builds a life beyond our expectations. Hope is something that will forever be new and our God is the agent who continues to place that in front of us - calling us.



Connection: Today can be a day when we settle into the way things are. Well...don't let that attraction to what is win the day. Keep open to the surprise that continues to bring peace, justice, mercy, kindness, and unbounded love into our world.



We are safe in you, O God, for you never let us stay tied up within ourselves. You continue to take us out to look at the horizon and imagine life that is not yet but is always within your promise to us. Remind us that we presently on the way along the path of faith in you alone - and that will always bring us change and new life. Amen.