"Hope That Does Not Disappoint" - Romans 5:1-5 - June 10, 2001

I heard about a high school senior who didn’t get to receive her diploma at commencement because she lacked a single credit. She has to go to summer school to complete her studies before she can graduate. I can only imagine how she felt when her friends all had graduation parities and enjoyed the "Pomp and Circumstance" while she stayed home alone.

Have you ever just fallen short of your goals? Perhaps there isn’t enough in the check book to pay all the monthly bills. Maybe you had hoped to go on vacation this summer only you can’t seem to find the time. Perhaps you can’t give energy to your hobbies anymore because your body doesn’t seem to want to "get up and go."

We all have days when life seems hopeless. How do we find the courage to keep going? What gives us the stamina to continue in spite of obstacles and overwhelming circumstances? Where is our hope?

When I encounter folks who are feeling overwhelmed or depressed it is difficult to know what to say. I often find myself using clichés like "hang in there" or "this too shall pass." Sometimes they work but there are other times when I feel as though its not enough. Some want prayer. Some want a listening ear. Some just need a hug. Unfortunately others feel God is punishing them and they are getting just what they deserve. There is no easy cure for hopelessness.

When the Church was meeting up with impossible odds, Paul told the fledging Church that there is hope. He said, "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us." Faith in God teaches us to be persons who have hope.

But, people disappoint us. This last few weeks the weather has disappointed us. Virtually anything can make our lives miserable. Our jobs, our families, our friends and neighbors, events in the world can all make life seem impossible. We can give up, quit, wallow in self-pity, and feel sorry for ourselves. We can blame someone else for our troubles. We can withdraw, do nothing and watch the world pass us by. Or, we can grab a hold to the hope God gives us.

For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero. Sparky also flunked Latin, Algebra and English. He didn’t do much better in sports. Although he did manage to make the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season.

Throughout his youth Sparky was awkward socially. No one seem to care for him. Rarely did one of his classmates speak to him. He never once asked a girl for a date. He was too afraid of being turned down. Sparky was a loser. He and his classmates knew it. He was content to live with his inevitable mediocrity. In other words, most of his life was hopeless.

However, one thing was important to Sparky, his drawing. He was proud of his artwork. No one else appreciated his work and in his senior year he submitted some cartoons for the high school yearbook but they were rejected. But Sparky did not give up hope. He was convinced that he had talent and decided to become a professional artist.

After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was given a cartoon subject to work on and sent samples of his artwork. He spent long hours working on the cartoon and finally submitted them to the Disney Studios. But, unfortunately his work was rejected. Another loss for the loser.

Sparky didn’t lose hope. He decided to write about his own life experiences. He described his childhood, a little boy who was a loser and a chronic underachiever. It was then that his artwork became world famous. For Sparky had created the cartoon character "Peanuts." Sparky, the boy who had been rejected again and again was none other than Charles Schultz. He had recreated himself in the character Charlie Brown, the boy whose kite would never fly and who could never kick a football. (from Stories for the Family’s Heart, by Alice Gray)

I wonder how many Sparky’s there are among us? People who have talent but quit after being rejected. People who lose hope because of the obstacles that appear in the path of their life’s journey. To be persons of faith is to be people who endure and who ultimately trust that God will be with us whatever we face.

Paul states that we have hope because God has given us access to grace through the Lord, Jesus Christ. But, what exactly does he mean by that? Leonard Sweet (Homiletics, June 11, 1995) says that Paul is talking about a "right relationship" with God. That means we have confidence in events that are sure to take place. Paul also says to "rejoice in our suffering." Suffering is a reality but ultimately builds character.

We are also to "endure." That doesn’t mean to be patient and wait for something to happen. It means "wading right in," getting involved in spite of obstacles and keep going no matter how exhausted we might become. For me, that is the key, "wading right in," instead of standing by, waiting for someone to rescue me.

In February I started running. It was all I could do to complete a mile the first few months. But then one morning I felt as if I could run a few more laps and extended my run. Now I am running a mile and one half. Its not easy and sometimes on the 25th lap I think about quitting.

Something inside says, "you can do this, keep going, you will reach your goal." I believe that is what happens about two thirds of the way through my run. I seem to find the strength to grasp on to hope. I have waded in and I just keep going. I don’t know why it took me so long to get started. It still hurts to run. I sweat, I pant, and I am tired at the end. But, its getting easier and I running further. And just about the time I think I have done enough I see a man, older than me, who runs over twenty miles a day.

Now that summer is here I am reminded of the many times I have gone swimming. Jumping in and getting wet is the hardest part about swimming. You know the water is cold. You know your body might ache for a few moments before you finally warm up. You know that your lips will turn blue and you know that once you make that leap into the pool, there is no turning back.

It has been my experience that those who are feeling hopeless are generally bored with life. They have no ambition. They don’t believe in themselves. They don’t take advantage of opportunities or they just don’t try. They are the ones who never wade in, let alone jump into the pool. They are convinced that the water is too deep.

Steven Hawking is a well-known astrophysicist at Cambridge University. He has advanced Einstein’s work on relativity and is credited with the mathematical calculations that suggest there are black holes in space. But, Dr. Hawking is also afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He has been confined to a wheelchair for years. He communicates by a computer that responds to the tiniest movement in his fingertips. Yet his personality shines through the messy details of his existence.

Before he became ill, life held little interest for him. It was an exercise in sheer boredom. He was hopeless. He drank too much and did little work. But when he learned he had acquired the disease his life went through a radical change. Hawking said, "When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one has. Suddenly, each day became precious and meaningful." (Homiletics, April-June, 1995)

To have hope means to endure. To have hope means to never give up. To think that we can live without any pain and suffering is to deny what Christ was able to do. He is our hope, as Paul has said. And fortunately, we don’t have to hit bottom before we can grasp hold of the hope God gives. We don’t have to sink before we swim. Hope is to seize every precious moment of every day that God gives us. For the hope God gives does not disappoint us.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio