As we walked out of our meeting into the beautiful 60+ fall day one of my colleagues said to me, “You know this is not a usual Minnesota fall. Don’t get used to this nice weather; usually this time of year is awful!”
Shortly after our recent convention, a person came up to me and said, “Don’t expect every convention to have such a good spirit. It’s just as likely to be a blood bath!”
The day after the recent election a long time friend in the Church called and proclaimed, “It’s over! I can’t believe it – our country is going down the drain!”
Each one of these conversation struck me the same way – where’s the hope?! And upon further reflection, I was reminded of a question that was asked of me by a wise mentor, “Can you be a faithful Christian and be a pessimist?”
I had a quick, reactive response, but fortunately she stopped me when she immediately suggested that I might want to sit with the question for a while.
A few weeks later, when we got together again, she inquired about the question that she had previously posed.
What proceeded was both a fascinating and enlightening conversation. As people who profess the new life that is ours through Christ’s death and resurrection, people who embrace both Good Friday and Easter, are we not inherently people of hope?
While I think I could make a pretty compelling response based on being a Christian realist, in fact, that may just as likely be a rationalization.
In the end, regardless, I think the point is well taken: we are called to live as people of hope, faith and love.