Newsletters - Community Protestant Church

From Despair to Hope

Fear, despair and hopelessness fill our headlines. The Covid-19 pandemic, economic shutdown, the reality of racial disparity, and riots rooted in and ending in senseless deaths & destruction, have all contributed to a slide toward darkness and chaos in our nation and world. I don’t want to dive into the darkness, as many do on social media, but neither do I want to ignore the realities taking place around us. Ignoring the problems won’t make them go away. I would rather look for ways to be light in the darkness—light that drives away the darkness

The spread of the coronavirus has reminded us that we are not in control. The economic crisis has reminded us that security can not be found in bank accounts. The reality of prejudice and racism in our lives and world has reminds us that our “enlightened” and “educated” society is still broken in many ways. The destructiveness and violence of riots accent the brokenness with further injustice. None of this is new. It is just a new expression of the damage of sin on humanity and creation that we have seen through out history.

So where do we find light in the midst of this darkness? If life is not in our control, if we can not find security in wealth, if prejudice pervades our relationships and social structures, if violence and force only further injustice, where do we find hope?

The answer of our Christian faith is Jesus—not in better education, not in governments or political parties, not in investment strategies or new technologies. But also, not in Jesus as we want him to be, but Jesus as he is revealed in God’s Word, the Bible. Jesus who grew up in a poor family. Jesus who challenged the religious norms and prejudices of his day. Jesus who could heal the sick and raise the dead, but didn’t even speak out against the Roman occupiers in his nation. Jesus who was merciful to the woman caught in adultery and the Samaritan woman at the well, but who overturned tables in the the temple and drove the moneychangers out with a whip. Jesus who dined with sinners and confronted calloused religious leaders. Jesus who died on the cross as the ultimate act of love and mercy. Jesus who said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” Not only did he call us to live this way, he lived it out for us to see.

To bring light into the darkness of our day, we have to believe in this Jesus and trust that his way—the way he calls us to live is the path of life and light in the face of the death and darkness around us. Not only do we have to believe it, we have to live it. There are no easy solutions to the turmoil of our world, just the call to faithfully follow Jesus—not with judgment and condemnation—but with love and mercy. “Love your neighbors as yourself” Jesus says, but also, “Love your enemies” Our challenge is to take these commands and make them real life actions. Don’t sow fear and hate. Sow love. Love like Jesus. Love those the world would call unlovable and hope will begin to grow around you.

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