The source of our Hope

Mr. Neway Kassahun

We are pilgrims marching through time but anchored in eternity. We are waiting for a new life to unfold as we celebrate a life that we already know. This is our Christian existence. The gift of hope keeps our eyes on the future, that same hope secures our existence here and now. Hope has an immense capacity to uphold us in good times and bad. No one described it better that Paul the apostle. “we are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed” /2cor. 4:8-9/

But what is the source of such hope? Where does such strength come from? The source is closer than we may think. It is in the world of God, in the power of the Spirit and in our selves. First, we are in possession of God’s word. Initially it orients us: it tells us who we are, where we come from and where we will go. Such vital communication is surely welcome for a traveler, but the word gives more. It tells the story of God’s mighty deeds in history. Listening to the word, we discover that were not lonely creatures in a comic wilderness, but that even here on earth we are alive with God on the way to entering into our full inheritance. We are invited to assume our part in God’s immense project. We know this because the Word – made flesh has told us clearly, and we have believed. Second, we are in possession of God’s energy. Before the Teacher left His disciples He told them that they “shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them”. /Acts 1:8/. Beyond the knowledge that they already possessed, the disciples needed energy to implement their mission. Indeed, they were baptized in the spirit on the day of Pentecost. But the story did not end there. As God unceasingly sustains heaven and earth, he pours his energy into the hearts of his servants continuously.

Ever since the inception of the church, this energy has kept welling up in the community; those who “have eyes to see and ears to hear” /Mark 8:18/ could easily see the signs of it. In the church of Jerusalem, it gave strength to Stephen, the chief deacon, to confront his persecutors fearlessly and to pray for them gently. The source of the hope that has pervaded the Christian community throughout its history has been the word and the energy; two components, one divine gift. Where can we find the gift of hope today? The story of Elijah the Prophet may give us the clue as to where to look. Elijah was pursued by jezebel and was running for his life. As he collapsed in the wilderness, he prayed that he might die, He prayed saying “it is enough; now Lord take away my life /1kings 19:4 he asked in despair. Then he heard the word, and energy was given him; “Arise and eat.” So after eating, he journeyed to mount Horeb, where God promised to meet him. Elijah arrived and waited. But God was not in the strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire. “And after the fire there was the sound of sheer silence.” And God was in the silence. There Elijah, in possession of the word, infused by energy, aman of hope, was ready to be sent on a new mission.

Where can we find the source of hopes so that we may live fully? Not in the strong wind that turmoil of the wind brings, not in the earth quake of power plays, not in the sound of sheer silence so the scriptures say.

We find the source of hope not in the persons and elements that surround us but inside in the sheer silence of the mind and heart, where the memory of the word lingers and where the divine energy presses for action. No other author or authentic source of hope exists under the heavens or above the earth. Once we have found the authentic source, we can make the necessary corrections in our itinerary. All pilgrims must do that. We can make our expectation fit the word, and not otherwise. We can let the beauty and clarity of divine energy prevail against the power play of selfishness and ambition. Then we put our hope where it ought to be in God.

If that happens, the incredible becomes believable and the impossible becomes feasible; whatever we ask for will be given to us /Mark 11:24/, and wherever we tell the mountain to go into the sea, it will go /mark 11:23/. While we are waiting for such unheard power, let us listen to the sound of sheer silence and respond Lord help us with our budding hope.

May God Bless us, Amen.