Today I want to talk about hope. Hope is a key to vitality. When hope is gone, energy is depleted and motivation drained. When hope disappears, despair moves in.

When I was a child, I listened to stories told by men who had been prisoners of war in World War II. They described worse than difficult times. When asked, “What kept you going?” more often than not they said it was some form of hope that kept them going. And they said it was usually those without any sense of hope who did not make it. In the worst of times, hope is a key factor in seeing us through.

If we are going to have any initiative, any energy or vitality in our living, we must have a sense of hope. The question is, what is the content of our hope? What we hope for, what we place our hope in, is what gives definition to our lives and shape to our living.

Some of us place our hope in power. We invest our talent, time and money trying to obtain power so that we can enjoy the benefits of being in control. For us power is the key to life. Our vitality and our priorities are related directly to our hope of gaining and maintaining power so that we can be in control of our lives and as much of life as possible.

Others of us place our hope in being happy. For us, being able to enjoy life is what makes life worth living. What we do with our time, energy and money is motivated by our hope of gaining happiness and enjoying life. We invest ourselves only in those activities and relationships we hope will in some way give us pleasure. Our vitality and our priorities are directly related to our hope of happiness.

Others of us place our hope in security and safety. We invest our talent, time and money making ourselves and those we love secure. Risks are viewed as foolish and irresponsible. The hope, the desire, the goal that shapes our living is being secure and safe.

The content of our hope shapes the way we live. People who place their hope in money live with different priorities from the people who place their hope in caring relationships. People who place their hope for peace in justice that is basically revenge have different values and strategies from those who place their hope for peace in justice that is shaped by compassion. The illustrations can go on and on, but you get the idea. As important as it is for us to have some sense of hope, even more important is the content of the hope we have.

“What is the hope that is shaping our living?” This is a question we would be wise to ask ourselves frequently. But in answering this question, we need to remember it is easy, very easy, for us to do a con job on ourselves. I am convinced it is much easier to fool ourselves about what we think is important than it is for us to fool others. Others can see what we place our hope in merely by paying attention to what we do with our time and money, and listening to us talk. But we often camouflage the truth from ourselves using all sorts of rationalizations. To keep us from fooling ourselves, it would be wise for us to examine both our check books and our calendars to discover what our priorities really are, and in discovering that, to discover the hope that has been defining and shaping our lives.

The Gospel offers us hope, but the hope the Gospel offers may be in conflict with the way we live. In the passage we read today, Paul said that the people who are faithful, live in the hope of sharing the glory of God. They do not boast or take pride in the things they accumulate, the trophies they have collected, the trips or expeditions they have enjoyed, the security they have achieved, the power they have, or any of the other pursuits in which we humans so often place our hope. The people Paul was talking about boast or take pride in or satisfaction in the hope of sharing in the glory of God.

What did Paul mean: “sharing in the glory of God”? What is the glory of God? This is a phrase that puzzled me for some time. Then one day I thought to ask: “What is the glory of someone such as Tiger Woods or Ben Crenshaw?” The real glory of people such as these is not the applause, the attention or the endorsements they receive. The glory of these athletes is their ability to play golf.

Just as the glory of an athlete such as Ben Crenshaw or Tiger Woods is seen in what they do, the glory of God is also revealed in what God does. And what God does is love us-love us as only God can love. Sometimes we experience God's love as a very tough love, and we call it judgment. Sometimes we experience God's love as a very tender love, and we call it mercy. But it is all an expression of God's love. And just as the glory of a great golfer is his or her ability to play at levels beyond others, the glory of God is loving as only God can love.

If the glory of God is God's love, then we share in that glory when God's love is what shapes our living. This is the hope that Paul wrote about-the hope of sharing the glory of God. Or to say this in other words, it is the hope of receiving God's love and the hope of sharing God's love with other people. It is the hope of living our lives knowing we are loved by God, and loving others as God in Christ has loved us.

This is the hope of the faithful. This is the hope that is at the core of the Gospel: to know God's love and to have God's love shape our use of our talent, our time and our money. And when this is the way we live, we discover our living is empowered; and we experience a quality of joy and peace that is too seldom experienced.

For the faithful, it is God's love at work in their lives that is the real source of power. As Jesus taught us, this power is not the power and authority of a king or queen. It is the power and authority of a servant—a servant whose words and deeds are so helpful, constructive and healing that the servant's impact on life is far beyond what catches the attention of headline writers. Those who are faithful do not place their hope in power but in the love of God, and in doing so they find themselves empowered.

And those who are faithful do not place the hope of being happy at the center of their living. The central hope in their lives is their hope in God and God's love, and when this is the hope that shapes their living, they experience the joy that comes from knowing that regardless of the way those around them may evaluate or judge their lives, in the sight of God their living makes a difference because their living gives expression to the love God revealed in Christ.

Nor do the faithful place their hope in striving to obtain security and safety. They place their hope in God and God's love, and living in harmony with the love of God they experience an inner peace which is beyond the understanding of many, if not most, people in the world. This peace is the byproduct of their not only realizing they are truly loved by God, but also of committing themselves to love others as God in Christ has loved them.

When we are engaged in loving others as God in Christ has loved us, we invest what we are and what we have in sharing the faith, offering hope, and acting out of love. When our hope is sharing in the glory of God, sharing in the love of God, then all we say and do involves us in ministries of faith, hope and love.

Today, I have been talking about hope. As important as it is for us to have hope, even more important is the content of the hope we have. When our hope is in God and God's love, then our central desire and goal is loving others as God in Christ has loved us, and that shapes what we do and what we say. When the love of God shapes our living, we share in the glory of God, and we discover we are empowered by God's love; and being empowered by God's love, we experience profound joy and peace the world seldom understands. All this is ours when hope in God and God's love is what shapes our living.

God, without hope, we inwardly decay. Help us place our hope in you and your love so that our living is empowered by your grace and we experience the joy and peace that come when we live participating in ministries of faith, hope and love. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:
God, help us to pray. Forgive us when we allow our self-centered agendas to be so full that our only prayers are hurried requests we throw at you as we rush to the next thing on our schedule. We know better. We know that in all situations we need your guidance. We know that just as it takes time to have a significant relationship with persons, it takes time to have a significant relationship with you. God, help us.

Especially now as we are involved in this capital funds campaign, help us to pray. Motivate each of us to seek your guidance as we decide how we are going to respond. God, we know that what we are about to do as a congregation is too important both to present and future ministries of this congregation for us to treat this campaign as just another appeal for money. We know that the decisions we make will shape and influence the way this church will be able to do ministry both now and in the decades to come.

God, motivate us to set aside time in our busy lives to pray. Help us discern what will be pleasing to you and give us the will to do what pleases you so that we will be able to experience inner peace and satisfaction-even joy.

All this we pray, remembering Jesus was teaching us to do God's will when he taught us to pray: “Our Father …”