Recently Nany Pelosi answered the question “Where is hope,” saying, “It’s where it has always been, between faith and charity.” Clever answer, I mused, but as I reflected on it, I concluded it was profound.
Let’s consider the idea that faith precedes hope. This present crucial time calls us to hope, but hope depends on what we believe. Our adult faith informs our belief in an everywhere God. We know a God who walks with us, inspires and empowers us to look forward to a new future. Our faith is in a God who works through us, and with us. We don’t believe in a God who is above and separated from our trials.
Hope Matters
A foundational mystery of our faith is the belief in the Trinity. This description of God teaches us that God is relational; that God is community. Father, Son and Spirit are equal persons giving and receiving love. Because God is relational love we are called to live in relationship. Faith in a loving, relational God supports our hope and defines how we move into charity.
Charity recognizes our interconnectedness; love knows that because we all were created by one Creator we are siblings. Therefore, why are some treated as less than equal? On my Facebook page, recently, I read someone’s clever and profound answer to the response that all lives matter. Usually, the response that all lives matter is given by someone who misunderstands, “Black Lives Matter.” The Facebook answer used the story of the Good Shepherd.
Love Matters
The profound insight into the Good Shepherd story was about the reason the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine. He does not leave them because they are not as important as the one. He searches for the one because the one is in trouble; the one is in need. Are the protests by people of all colors confirming that all lives matter? And are the protests also showing without doubt that it’s black lives that are in trouble? Are we finally finding hope, based on the faith that leads us to love?
Another insight into the Good Shepherd story comes from a Christian teacher who told the story to a group of Muslim girls. The girls refused to believe that a shepherd would leave ninety-nine sheep to search for one that was lost. Anyone who knows shepherds realizes that this story would have shocked Jesus’ listeners, too. No sensible shepherd does such a thing. The story can teach us that God’s love is foolish according to worldly standards.
One of the Muslim girls found a way to believe such an absurd lesson. The other sheep, she decided, go with the shepherd while he searches for the one missing from their fold. That’s a message of persistence, determination, and purpose for community. This is what we are called to do at this moment in our history. We must remain present to our brothers and sisters who cry out to us that their lives matter. Our hope for a world of equality calls us first to repentance followed by the charity to walk, stand, and kneel with those who are traveling through life with us.
In summary, faith in the God who made us equal gives us hope to fulfill God’s dream for us. Hope leads us to the charity which refuses to fail in the quest for equal justice under the law.