Hoping for the best
There have been a series of impressive light projections onto the exterior of Lichfield Cathedral. One of these featured the word HOPE with the giant letters being rainbow coloured. More modest versions have been displayed in front windows of homes around the country where children have produced rainbow pictures; some have included the word HOPE.
I can’t help wondering what is meant by hope in this context. Is it simply another way of saying ‘stay positive’? Perhaps for some it is the earnest desire (hope) that governments will find a way to get things back to ‘normal’, or that scientists will speedily provide us with a safe vaccine with sufficient availability.
For Christians, ‘hope’ is more than staying positive. Following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ‘hope’ is a constant theme in New Testament teaching and is frequently linked with faith and love. Christianity’s use of the word ‘hope’ means waiting for a substantive and assured outcome. It has little to do with the less than definite way we might say something like, ‘I hope I haven’t missed the bus.’ Or ‘I hope it will be sunny next Saturday for our Jill’s wedding!’ No, Christian hope may be compared with a mighty anchor that a ship lowers overboard so that the vessel may hold firm even in a storm.
So, what is this anchor of hope that the early followers of Jesus were keen for each of us to grasp, even us in our COVID-19 world? Just this: that our biggest enemy, death, no longer has the last word; a resurrection from the dead has occurred. This is what Christians celebrated on Easter Day, with many of them attending online services.
Jesus gives his followers the hope that holds both assurance and confidence that they, like himself, will rise from the dead to join him as his brothers and sisters in his Father’s family estate. This ‘estate’ is described in the New Testament as the ‘new heavens and new earth’.’
In these days, when the structures of life are shown to be fragile and our own mortality brought into sharper focus, I am emboldened to respectfully ask this question. Where are you casting your anchor of hope? To quote an old hymn, ‘Will your anchor hold in the…’ storm of COVID-19?
In the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus say these loving and compassionate words, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.’ Perhaps, like many others, you have a vague hope in God. Jesus is concerned; he wants to make that more definite, more certain. ‘Trust also in me’ he says. It’s almost as if he were saying, ‘Let go of your lightweight and rusting anchor and take me as your soul’s anchor; I’m a more sure hope.’
The light projections at Lichfield Cathedral have come to a close. Hope itself, by its very nature, is a transitional experience, no longer needed once it has been realised. The fulfilment of Christian hope is described in the penultimate chapter of the Bible where we are told, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’