Hope in the Midst of Despair

After reading an article written by Walter Brueggemann, titled “The Company of the Unafraid, with a subtitle, God’s Peculiar Hope Offers A Way to Keep Fear From Overpowering Us.” I began to think about how I have at times capitulated to the despair around me and allowed it drive me to a place of fear.

I realized that my fears exist because, I allowed myself to feel contained by the world which was in front of me and lose sight of God’s coming world. When I say, God’s coming world, I am not talking about life after death, I am talking about a hope that will allow believers to see God actively ushering a new world in the midst of what we are now seeing.

Brueggemann says, “When we are contained in the world that is immediately in front of us, we will inescapably end in despair.” In other words, when we become so focused on this country’ pandemic, political unrest, hatred and division through the lens of hopelessness, we will find ourselves standing within the despair that this immediate world is producing.

The world that we are encountering today is full of what Brueggerman called “despair-producers” that’s well known to all of us. Those despair producers are caused by the failure of our public institutions; the collapse of moral consensus; the failure of political nerve; growing economic inequity; the pervasiveness of top-down violence against the vulnerable.” To that list of despair producers, we can add a president who has aspirations of becoming a despot and his obvious ignorance of Covid-19 which has led to more than 300,000 deaths.

If we allow, the “despair producers” will contain or hold us captive to fear within this immediate world, especially when we lose sight of the Gospel. It is the Gospel that helps “hopers” to look beyond what the world is presently presenting to them and see a different world. People of hope will refuse to be contained.

People of hope should always be looking beyond the despair producers unto the forth coming changes that God will bring forth. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” If we cling to what we see and not rely upon the hope of God’s promise of what this nation can become, we will find ourselves fearful of the despair and fear that will hamper our struggle for justice, equality and mercy.

Brueggermann believes that the eleventh Chapter of Hebrews provides a roster of Jewish hopers who refused resignation to what was in front of them. He says, “What these hopers have in common is that they knew and trusted that God’s alternative world is crowding in on the dominant world of despair and will-soon or late overcome it. The good world of God’s promise is marked by restorative justice, compassion, and mercy. Hopers who trust in this coming world refuse despair, trust the promises of God, and actively engage in the performance of that new world.”

When we see this world through the eyes of hope, despair loses its grip in the long run. God’s peculiar hope is a firm ground to stand upon. It will not allow the fears of the present to define or overpower us. It is that peculiar hope that gives us the courage and strength to stand in the midst of despair. Our struggle against racism, injustice and the oppression of any people should be fueled by hope and not stymied by our fears.

Reuben J. Boyd Jr.