“I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:13-14
Jesus replied, “no one who puts a had to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
Say not, “Why were the former days better than these? “For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” Ecclesiastes 7:10
What sense does it make to focus your gaze on the rear-view mirror if you are trying to move forward toward a destination?
I teach pastoral care classes to seminary and course of study students, and foundational to my class is the touchstone of hope. We must be mindful that Christians are only pilgrims in this world, and we are called to look ahead to a better future, so it doesn’t do believers any good to keep looking back all the time. While preaching several Homecomings over the last few weeks, I have reminded those assembled that we celebrate the past, but we must live in the present, yet our calling is to hold steadfast by faith in hope, which is God’s preferred future. To be sure, hope should not function as an opiate that causes people to deny reality. Hope, however, provides the courage to face whatever chaos or trauma life throws us. Hopers trust the future and imagine holy possibilities, so they are not afraid of risks.
Christian hope is positively oriented toward the future, God’s promise of a future. Sadly, hopelessness views the future with suspicion, anxiety, or apathy. In the language of possibility, ‘hope is… a sense of the possible, …while hopelessness means to be ruled by the sense of the impossible.’ Yet scripture tells us, “Nothing is impossible with God!” Hope is communal and relational, not isolationist and separatist. Hope exists in shared experiences with others, and people who can hope are meaningfully connected with other people. Godly hope is excited about the future filled with Holy Ghost possibilities. Hope is the reality of the Christians who trust God to lead us into a marvelous existence not limited by our understanding but one which is unfolding a future toward God’s beloved community.
Capital District, let’s be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work as we look to the Hope of Christ as communities of United Methodists making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
Capital District We Are Looking Forward in Hope
