A New Hope

BY: REV. RAMIRO RODRIGUEZ Associate Pastor

I’m writing this two days after I noticed the first blooms on the Bradford Pear trees which line our neighborhood. A couple of hours ago I watched the Chicago Cubs get thrashed in a Spring training baseball game. My head swims with thoughts of baseball and new life; my soul fills with the perennial hopes of Spring.

Hope is foundational to our faith. We place our hope and trust in God. Our ultimate hope is for God’s Kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our ultimate hope is for God to be with us in a world where every tear has been wiped away by God’s loving hand, a world where there is no longer any mourning, or crying, or pain. Our ultimate hope is for God to make everything new. This is our hope – our old-school hope – but I feel like there is a new hope at hand.

We have been through a lot during the past year. Some of us have faced illness, some of us have dealt with – and are still dealing with – grief. Some of us have experienced financial devastation. All of us have witnessed the fault lines which divide us become deeper, more entrenched. Differences we have always had now seem like yawning chasms which we will never be able to bridge.

During this past year all of us have lost something. And one of the cruelest parts of this past year is that we had to deal with our losses without being able to find comfort in the smiling faces of the people we worship with. None of us imagined that we would be unable to worship inside our beautiful church for over a year. None of us knew how hard we would have to work at staying connected to each other. Few of us realized how much we took worshipping together for granted.

This past year was difficult. There were times when many of us felt like we were being engulfed by darkness, times when many of us felt like we are watching everything crumble around us. There were times this past year when many of us felt lost and alone, but if literature and cinema have taught us anything it is that during the darkest of times new hope is born.

There are countless examples I could pick from, but – for those of you who may not know – I am partial to the Star Wars franchise of movies. In these movies it isn’t until the bad guys are at their strongest, it isn’t until they have a weapon which can destroy entire planets, it isn’t until the Emperor laughs with evil glee because his sinister plan is about to be fulfilled, that our hero or heroine discovers new hope.

It isn’t until all seems lost that a new hope – a new way – emerges.

This past year was difficult but during those dark days new hope – new ways – emerged. During the past year we realized how much we need each other, we realized how deep our connection to each other is, and we realized that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

We learned lessons this past year. We learned that our church extends far beyond its walls, we learned how amazing it is to worship together, and we learned that the things which unite us are so much more powerful than the things which threaten to tear us apart.

I can honestly say that out of the darkness of this past year I feel more hopeful than ever before and I don’t think I’m alone. As you walk down the halls of our church, as you watch services online, I think there is a palpable feeling of energy and hope. I am hopeful that as 2020 becomes an increasingly distant memory, the lessons we have learned – the new hope which sustained us - will allow this church to flourish in truly remarkable ways.

I thank God that I can work with all of you to make this new hope a reality.

Peace and Blessings, Pastor Ramiro