Unseen Hope. Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 01 January 2023, by Major Michael Ramsay
Romans 8:24 “…Hope that is seen is no hope at
all; who hopes for what they already have?”
We have just had
Christmas. Many children (and adults) hope for gifts. Many of us hope that
family will be able to visit us over the holidays or that we will be able to
visit them. Officers often hope for a day or two off on boxing day or shortly
thereafter. We also hope that we will raise enough funds on the kettles; we
hope that we will be able to provide for the communities for which we are responsible.
In the myriad things we do at Christmas time and all year long we hope that we
are able to provide comfort and support for those in need.
Hope is what drives us.
Hope is what helps us continue. Hope is what gives us strength. I know there
were a few days during the Christmas campaign where I myself was very down. I
was not all that hopeful. First I was sick, then life and circumstances arose
and I was so down that people could tell just from my body language and my
voice as I spoke in normal conversation. Then it is amazing how seemingly
little things can change everything. I received an unexpected unrelated
encouraging message from a friend and everything changed. I had hope. I had
something to look forward to… it changed everything. I walked down the hallway
with a spring in my step and there was hope that we would be able to what needed
to be done and we did.
I find it very interesting. Actually accomplishing something is wonderful. Awards and accolades are great. I was blessed to have The Salvation Army publish my book Salvogesis' Guidebook to Romans Road this year and I was so humbled to be awarded awarded the Citizen of the Year here not that long ago for 2020 and I am always grateful to put on my Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Medal (that I was awarded in 2012) for Remembrance Day or other such events – but the thing about any accomplishment or award is once you have achieved it, it is done; the meaning fades. The longer ago you have achieved something, the more it is just a memory like any other memory. Once you have something or have achieved something, it is immediately in the rear-view mirror. Dwelling on it pulls you back rather than propelling you forward. Hope, on the other hand, is what we have when we are waiting, when we are expecting something. It is hope that drives us on.
We have just come
through the Christmas season. Advent is in part about waiting for the
celebration of the birth of the Messiah. We know that the Judeans were waiting
for a military ruler to deliver them from their occupiers and establish a
kingdom forever. We know that the Samaritans were waiting for a teacher, a philosopher
king who would instruct them in all things. In Jesus we had those hopes
realized and more. Jesus was born the Son of God, the Prince of Peace. We
celebrate the realization of that hope on Christmas Day.
But Jesus did not leave
us without hope for the future when he fulfilled the hope for the coming Messiah.
Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation of God but Advent is also about
our hope as we wait for Jesus to return. On Good Friday we mourn Jesus’ death
and on Easter Sunday we celebrate His resurrection. When He died, He fulfilled
the Abrahamic and other covenants and when He rose again, He defeated death; so
that we now can have eternal life.
This is our hope. The
world has not been made anew yet and we have not received our glorified bodies
yet but we will when Christ returns. This is our hope, the bodily resurrection
and eternal life with Christ our Saviour. This will be realized with the return
of Christ. This is our hope: that we and all those we know and love and hopefully
even all those we don’t may be resurrected to eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Now, of course, what we
are talking about is Salvation. And Salvation is for the future but it is not
exclusively for the future; it is for now as well. In that regard we have a duty
to share our hope with others so that they have a reason to continue striving, continue
working, continue loving.
It is so easy to give
up and then life will just destroy you. We have all seen people without hope
and – if you are like me – you may have also had stretches where your hope was
faint to say the least – but hang onto that hope, God can use it to pull you
through anything. You have all heard what I think is now just called ‘Spirituals’ (I can’t really keep up on the ever-changing acceptable language; so
if I have used an outdated term, please forgive me; I am not trying to harm
anyone). The music that was sung by the people enslaved by the United States of
America and their descendants. They sang of the future over the metaphorical
River Jordan, of heaven, for that is how they continued, continuing on – hoping
for heaven. Singing praises to our Lord filled them with hope from God that
helped them through some horrific circumstances.
Now, of course, we can
hope for more than just a future Salvation. We can have glimpses of that future
hope of Salvation while living out our Salvation here and now. Life is tough
still for many people today in the world. Life is tough still for many people
in the US, descended from slaves or not. Life is tough for many people in
Canada and life is tough for many people in BC and life is tough for many
people in the Alberni Valley here. Life is tough for some of us in this room,
right now.
There are many
miserable things in life but Christ can and will be with us in the midst of
them and hope in Christ can and will help us persevere through each individual
challenge in our life as it arises until our ultimate hope is fulfilled.
The Canadian Salvation
Army’s motto is ‘giving hope today’ and that is what each of us are called to
do and we can do and what we do do, in many ways in our community. Some of the many
ways you, as part of our team here, are giving hope today is through:
·
Providing
hampers and toys at Christmas time to families who wouldn’t have been able to provide
for their children otherwise; this act is a glimpse of the hope we have of the
future where no children will be without anything.
·
We
give hope today by providing meals year-round from groceries at the food bank, plated
dishes at the Bread of Life or served from the food truck. This is a glimpse of
the hope we have that there will be a time when no one goes hungry while others
suffer the ills of excess, like they do today.
·
We
give hope here today by providing clothing to those who need clothing through
the thrift store (with the dignity of letting people pay for them) and/or our
community and family services (for those who cannot afford it); this is a
glimpse of the hope of a future when either, like Eden, we don’t have to even
worry about our clothes or, like Exodus, the clothes we have won’t ever wear
out.
·
We
give hope today by providing shelter from the bad weather through our EWR
shelter and our ongoing shelter that we should be opening very soon – we hope. This
provides a glimpse of the hope that one day everyone will have a safe place to
rest for eternity, as Hebrews says we can enter His rest, God’s rest.
·
We
give hope today by providing church services here and at the seniors’ homes. This
provides a glimpse of the hope that there will be a day when we can praise God
like the Seraphim and maybe even sing along to an angelic choir to our hearts
content.
·
We
give hope today by providing prayer and emotional and spiritual support to all
those in need here and in our community; we look forward in hope to a day when
all those who grieve and mourn will be comforted as it says in the scripture.
·
We
give hope today by being there for one another – visiting, calling, texting,
sending cards of encouragement. We hope for that day when there is no more
isolation, no more loneliness and despair, only family, friends and the love of
God.
·
We
give hope today by praying for each other as we do both individually and at
church every Sunday. This is a glimpse of the hope we have that in the new
heavens and the new earth, as it says in scriptures, there will not even be a
temple or a church building because we won’t need one; we will all, always be
in the very real presence of our God. This is our hope!
So, with this in our hearts and our minds, my friends
as you are able, I encourage you to continue to offer comfort and support and
love to one another and to help others here in our community (and in other
aspects of your life) knowing that the comfort we are providing today is only a
foretaste of the hope that we have for the future, and that when Jesus returns that
hope will be fully realized, and what a glorious day that will be!
Let us pray
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