Gritty Hope

 

Real Hope

“Church, we are not a people of the inspirational poster!”

Nadia Bolz-Weber

          Nadia Bolz-Weber gave a sermon on “Hope” to the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in 2020. She began it with the words above and the next sentence was, “We are not a people of the motivational speaker.” It warmed my heart to see this. So many of us spout clichés that sound good but are without substance. One of my favorites is, “Freedom isn’t free,” with a photo of soldiers trekking through some foreign land. That much is true—we have sacrificed far too many of our young men and women to wars, and they have performed their service admirably. But freedom isn’t only obtained by soldiering and war—it’s also about free and easy access to the voting box. It’s about safety on our streets and in our homes. Freedom requires a citizenry that pays attention not just to what is pertinent and best for them and theirs, but also to what serves the greatest good for all people.

          We came to this continent in search of religious freedom—which means that we can worship as we believe, but also, that we can choose not to worship if we don’t believe. We came here in hope of finding a new way of life and new opportunities and we have found that—unless we happen to be black or poor. The hope we hold is not the inspirational poster kind of hope that the good fairy will drop some magic on us, but a gritty hope based upon hard work and determination. A hope that does not give up. When all else fails, and we face surrender, the hope that still exists in our hearts is the real deal. I have that kind of hope. Do you?

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane