There is a saying attributed to St. Augustine that lingers in my thinking. It has come to mind multiple times in the past several months as many I know are struggling to understand what hope is. This questioning most often comes amid great fear and frustration with the present moment and the danger of lingering in despair when looking into the future.
Even though Augustine, bishop of Hippo in the early church, probably did not write this, we do know that there was more than enough conflict and uncertainty in his life to suggest he had thought about hope. The metaphor is this: that hope has two lovely children--anger and courage; anger with the way things are and courage to change them for the better. Regardless of the original author, there is truth that resonates in me with this statement.
Hope is a Choice
One of the things that I have come to embrace is the concept that hope is a choice. It is an orientation toward the future recognizing that we have little control over what the future holds. It is as basic and primal to being human as any emotion and yet it is more than an emotion. It is very much connected to what we value most and to our understanding of our ability to exert power in the world.
I believe that for those of us who have not had to struggle much in our lives to meet our basic needs or to be seen and heard and understood, hope can be merely an idea. We just expect, or hope or wish, that life will be mostly good continuing in the way it currently functions. But when you live in the margins, when you are the underdog, when some hold onto the premise that life is fair and your experience is otherwise, hope moves to a different level of significance.
In 1988, I was a part of a delegation that travelled to the Philippines on behalf of the United Church of Christ. We were there to celebrate the anniversary of that church’s founding in this nation of many islands. It was the first year following the overthrow of Dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The country was struggling to come together.
The military was very much in control of things. The week before we arrived, a human rights lawyer was killed in his yard. A farm educator from the Christian Council of Asia was in the country teaching farmers about sustainable techniques, but had gone missing. The military admitted after a few days that they had detained him. The government was attempting to control through fear.
And the church leaders who were our hosts over the course of the week knew that their names were on lists as being dangerous due to their commitment to serve the poor and support those who lived on the margins. Our own actions on that tour of that beautiful country had been rearranged as there was fear that our own lives might be valuable pawns. We stayed as a group at all times. We also cancelled visits to rural areas where the church had significant ministries but were far from more secure urban centers.
Exuding Joy in the Midst of Darkness
One day at lunch I sat across the table from one of the denominational leaders. The conversation was convivial, joyful even. This pastor across the table from me was telling stories that made everyone laugh. He was exuding joy. I could barely eat as the fear and stark realities that surrounded their situation consumed my being. I finally asked him, how is it that you are so joyful? He responded without missing a beat, “because it is our faith that gives us the courage to do that which we are called to do. It is our faith that tells us that death is not the last word, but it is love.”
I think back to that conversation when I read these words from Michelle Obama: “You may not always have a comfortable life, and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have. Because history has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.”
That Filipino colleague’s words of hope were contagious in helping to keep me from completely losing myself to the despair of the enormity of the fear and desperation surrounding that situation.
There is a throughline that I continually discover when I think about hope and the future. And that is at the intersection of anger and courage. George Bernanos once described hope as “despair overcome”—"despair experienced, suffered, and overcome through the grace of God and the cooperation of the human will. Hope has a strength that comes of struggling with doubt and fear. It has a substance which hollow optimism lacks.”
Choose Hope with Eyes Wide Open
In his book, God’s Politics, Jim Wallis also writes of the importance of hope:
“Hope is not a feeling; it is a decision. And the decision for hope is based on what you believe at the deepest levels—what your most basic convictions are about the world and what the future holds—all based on your faith. You choose hope, not as a naïve wish, but as a choice, with your eyes wide open to the reality of the world…”
Wallis doesn’t specifically talk about courage here, but, it does take courage. It takes courage to see the realities at work in the world and the contradictory truths that exist side by side. Perhaps one of the acts of courage is to acknowledge that people can hold different truths at the same time and that they can still live together in community. It takes courage to move beyond our anger with the way things are in this world and which do not align with our understanding of faith and love. And courage is what moves us to choose to see the God’s reality. And in that seeing through the divine, we can overcome the paralysis of despair and ground our very being in hope.
We need to see those around us who are also grounded in hope and catch the contagious nature of this choice--the present moment does not hold the final word. The present reality is not the eternal promise. The current situation, whatever that may be, is not the fullness of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
May we find those around us who also desire to choose hope over despair. May we search for inspiration from those who have experience in staring fear in the eye and deciding to instead move forward in love. May we have courage, convictions that come from the depth of our hearts, to claim the path of love ahead of us and move boldly into this new year.
For Reflection (either individually or with a group)
Read the blog. Read it a second time, maybe reading it aloud or asking someone else to read it aloud so you can hear it with different intonation and emphases. Invite the Divine to open your heart to allow the light of new understanding to pierce the shadows of embedded assumptions, stereotypes, and ways of thinking so that you may live more abundantly. Then spend some time with the following questions together with anything or anyone who helps you reflect more deeply.
- How do you respond to the idea “hope is a choice”?
- How do you find hope when things do not feel hopeful?
- Who are the people who are your supportive posse of hope?
- What idea from this blog is the concept you most want to remember?
Download a pdf including the Reflection Questions to share and discuss with friends, family, or members of your faith community small group.
