"Prisoners of Hope"

250th Anniversary

It may be a surprise to you, but every now and then I take the time to read the opinions of the Supreme Court.

I do not read them out of interest in the outcome of a case but mostly to learn about the reasoning behind a particular decision or dissent.

Why would I do such a thing?  Well, I like to read the reasoning because each one is like a little capsule of American history.  Each decision or dissent is like a window offering a glimpse of how the notion of the “Self-evident Truths” interacts with daily life.  Indeed, they show us how an ancient set of laws interacts with the contemporary world.

As you well know, the Founders wrote about “Self-evident Truths” – the equality among human beings, and their endowment by their Creator of certain Rights: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And most if not all the decisions of the Supreme Court deal with the interaction of those rights with the rights of other individuals or with society at large.

As an American by choice, I find great hope in the Great American Experiment – the foundational idea that people choose to give sovereignty to the Law, rather than to any human being. Indeed, America is intended to be a nation of people under the Law. 

I find hope in that despite all the backs and forths of the last two hundred and fifty years, the notion has become more than an experiment, but has become a viable reality.

In terms of today’s Old Testament lesson and in the words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in relationship to America, my adoptive country, I do not consider myself an optimist, but a prisoner of hope.  

That is to say, I do not feel optimistic because one party or another wins an election or scores a political point, but because I am grounded on the conviction that even in the darkest of circumstances, good will ultimately win.

Or, in the words of the Rev. Theodore Parker, who in 1858 preached, “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways... But all I see bends towards justice.”

So, as we look forward to the next years and centuries, let us affirm ourselves in such conviction.  Yes, as political individuals it does matter who will win the next and forthcoming elections, and the results may decide how we feel about the future. 

But as Americans, let me be bold – indeed brazen enough to invite you to greater confidence and hope in the future.

Now, going back to our Old Testament lesson, we find the Prophet encouraging the returning exiles as they arrived to a barren and hostile land. The Prophet invites them to resist being held captive by fear, uncertainty, or despair but instead, to embrace hope rather than wishful thinking, just because God said so.

Zachariah is quite clear – No; it would not happen overnight.  They still had long and hard days ahead. 

But in the imagery of a king arriving mounted on a donkey was a powerful reaffirmation of God’s ultimate power.  In fact, in pronouncing such words, Zechariah was doubling down on God’s promise to accomplish his will not through military prowess but by the presence of His very own Spirit.

And that is important, because hope in the biblical sense is not illusion.  It is not the polite religious version of crossing fingers.  Hope is the stubborn trust that God is still at work, even when the evidence before our eyes seems thin.  It is the refusal to surrender the future to fear.

So, Zechariah describes their attitude with a holy paradox.  They should consider themselves prisoners of hope. Not prisoners of empire, not prisoners of disappointment, not prisoners of nostalgia for what had been lost, but prisoners of hope.  

Bound, yes, but bound to the faithfulness of God.  Captive, yes, but captive to the promise that God’s purposes were larger than the boulders around them.

And perhaps that is the invitation for us today.  To be people who do not deny the brokenness of the world nor the challenges of our own frailty.  To be a people who also refuse to let fear or nostalgia have the final word.

Today’s lesson is an invitation to be people who can look honestly at injustice and division in our society or anxiety and weariness about our future as a congregation, but still say, “Because of God, the game is not over.”

In Zachariah’s days the faithful were encouraged to trust in the long arc of God’s goodness and faithfulness – An arc that it is always bending towards God’s heart.  And then, pull up the sleeves and go to work. 

Today, both our Two Hundred and Fifty anniversary and the Word of God invites us to a hope which is not passive.  A hope which will not sit back and wait for God to do what God has entrusted us to do.

Rather it is a hope which will move us work even if we may not be able to see the finished product.  In the famous words of someone who knew how to inspire people – The Great Communicator himself – “Let us keep alive the vision of (…) a new nation of free people, a country that would be a light unto the nations, and a shining city upon a hill.”

Let us pray: 

Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly pray that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will.  Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners.  Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.  

Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the nations who called America their ancestral home and those brought here out of many kindreds and tongues.  Endue us with the spirit of wisdom those whom in your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth.

In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Fr. Gustavo