Presence Weekly 10/21/2024, "The Paradox of Our Hope, Part 3"

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹ inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 1 Peter 1:3–12

One of the best parts of hope is that it produces the expectation of restoration in times of longing. 

Those serving and leading in Washington are often presented with hope that leads to an expectation of fulfillment. Perhaps it is the hope that a particular piece of legislation will pass. When it does finally pass, the sense of fulfillment produces joy, and rightly so. Conversely, if the bill is killed or severely maimed in committee, the expectation of fulfillment is met with disappointment and even sadness. Thankfully, there is always the next piece of legislation upon which to place our hopes - hope that produces an expectation of fulfillment. 

But, like so many things in which we place our hope, the joy or sadness at the fulfillment of the process is situational and, as such, temporary. Joy and sorrow from such temporary fulfillments is, perhaps, just a foretaste of a living hope. 

The story of the People of God is one of replacing longing with expectation and, ultimately, fulfillment. Peter understands that the elect exiles were longing for things to change. This is the sweetest part of our hope - while longing, we have a hope that produces expectation. This is Peter’s point as he reminds the readers that their expectation of salvation is well-founded; 

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

Like us, Peter’s audience lives on this side of the resurrection! The Redeemer the prophets had longed for, prophesied about, and searched for had come. In the longed-for fulfillment of Scripture, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world had lived, died, and risen from the dead. As Peter reminds his readers, just like the Old Testament people of God, their longing must also move to expectation, which will end in fulfillment. In verse 5, he says, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In verse 9, he writes that the expectation is, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

In the Broadway version of Les Miserables, Fontaine is a young woman whose circumstances have left her living on the streets and selling her body to provide for her daughter. In perhaps one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the play, she sings, “I had a dream my life would be so different than this hell I’m living.”

The pain that she is feeling and the sense that her life is hell compared to her dream reveals something profound. We long for the good and the beautiful, which begs the question, “Why?” Why do we long for the good and the beautiful? I believe it is because the sense of how things are intended to be is not simply culturally defined but written on our hearts by our Creator. Our longings are longing for the life we were created to enjoy. A life of flourishing. A life in the presence of God, without crying, pain, or death.

Please know that if you come to me or another staff member during a horrible situation, we will pray for you and do everything in our power to help you get out of that situation as fast as possible. However, we will also convey that your expectation should ultimately be that the rescue that began when God the Father caused you to be born again will find its ultimate fulfillment when Jesus returns. Further, as Peter has reminded his readers, the nature of our hope rests in,

“an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (v.4-5)

What are we longing for? Are we longing to be set free from our sin, or are we longing for the Nationals to win the World Series? Are we longing for a kingdom filled with justice and mercy, or are we longing for the Supreme Court to “make everything right”? Are we longing for an end to young women terminating pregnancies because they feel trapped or inconvenienced, or are we longing for an end to Planned Parenthood? 

Longing, without the right hope, is a depressing and sad word. We live in a world of immediate information and the search for immediate gratification. Consider how far our society has gone to remove us from any longings we might have. 

With an election just two weeks away, many are hoping for election outcomes that will lead to making America great again or moving forward together. Those are not ignoble goals. But our country has been searching for fulfillment for 250 years. The reality of the Christian life is not that we live without expectations but that our longings are different. While we understand that we are called to live lives of longing, our lives here will always be about longing for something not yet here. The more we learn about what is promised to us, the more frustrating it is to deal with this longing. We long with an expectation of fulfillment. U2 was onto something when they wrote, 

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I'm still running
You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Oh my shame
You know I believe it
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

What Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry were proclaiming was that all of our longings - and the hope we carry with us - will always end in incomplete fulfillment. That is - until Christ returns and welcomes us into the Kingdom that is to come.

What we need is a hope that is always in front of us—a hope of something so good, so beautiful, so imperishable, undefiled, and unfading that it is enough to sustain us through the whiplash of pendulum swings between hopes realized and hopes dashed.

As we referenced a few weeks ago in part one of this devotional, “Hell begins where HOPE ends.” Even though we have been called to be different, and at times, this difference seems undesirable, we must continue to cling to this living hope. A living hope that produces confidence even in uncertainty because our hope is not in something that we have earned or something that can ever perish; a living hope that produces joy even in suffering because we know that our suffering is temporary and not without meaning; and a living hope that moves us from longing to expectation in knowing that what Christ has already won for us in his resurrection will meet its fulfillment when he returns. 

That is the final paradox of our hope. Unlike all other forms of hope, ours is a living hope that is always in front of us and yet to be experienced in its ultimate fulfillment. Regardless of our preferred forms of hope, this is exactly how our Father intends and precisely what we need.

Application Questions

Where do you most acutely experience the reality and cravings of being meant for something different? Where do you most often experience longing for the fulfillment of Christ’s promises?

What are your specific longings right now for your own life? For our current political moment and the upcoming election? What would it look like to put these hopes within the context of our living hope?

• Monday: Morning: Revelation 7:1-8, Luke 9:51-62
  Psalm 25 // Evening: Psalm 9,15
• Tuesday: Morning: Revelation 7:9-17, Luke 10: 1-16, Psalm 26,28// Evening: Psalm 84, 150, Isaiah 52:7-10, Matthew 9:35 - 10:4
• Wednesday: Morning: Jeremiah 11:18-23, Matthew 10:16-22, Psalm 119:145-168// Evening: Psalm 122,125, Isaiah 65:17-25, Hebrews 12:12-24
• Thursday: Morning: Revelation 9:1-12, Luke 10:25-37, Psalm 37:1-7// Evening: Psalm 37:18-40
• Friday: Morning: Revelation 9:13-21, Luke 10:38-42, Psalm 31// Evening: Psalm 35
• Saturday: Morning: Revelation 10:1-11, Luke 11:1-13, Psalm 30, 32 // Evening: Psalm 42, 43
• Sunday: Morning: 1 Corinthians 10:15-24, Matthew 18-15-20, Psalm 63:1-8, 98 // Evening: Psalm 103

• Cabinet Agency: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (Commerce), which promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology to enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. (See Leviticus 19)
• Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: The Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS) is a think tank of aspiring wonks working to understand and navigate the transformative potential of advanced AI. Their mission is to identify and promote strategies that maximize the benefits of AI for society and develop thoughtful solutions to minimize its risks.
• Weekly delegation: For the staff and congressional delegation from the state of Mississippi.
• News: Those overseeing the rollout of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new regulations from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) that would provide close to $100 million in annual cost savings for businesses and consumers through updating and modernizing regulations to accommodate the latest technologies, business practices, and understandings of hazardous materials, including updates in packaging practices for hazmat transportation.
• Personal requests: For someone traveling non-stop until the election. For someone preparing to move overseas with an embassy assignment. For a couple working hard on their marriage. For someone considering a job change. For someone having difficulty finding a medication with limited side effects. Two Cabinet agency workers trying to decide if they should stay or go in advance of the election. For several substantial capacity-building grants for which Faithful Presence has applied.

• Read this first → Comment Magazine's new issue is out, focusing on the idea of the decline of civilization. At the top of your reading list should be, “Building a Future in the Face of the Apocalypse.”
• The Center for American Progress has a surprising and well-supported article on wages and unemployment.
• Desiring God has an essay running on a parallel but different track, “We Groan for Home: Waiting and Hoping Like Children of God.”
• Christianity Today has an article on how Ezekiel’s message to the exiles can have implications for loving our neighbor, “Pastors and Public Servants: Lead Your Neighbor as Yourself.”
• The Rabbit Room has a terrific essay on having better conversations. 

• Tuesday, October 22, 4:00 pm - 7:30 pm ET, The Aspen Institute hosts Action and Impact: Empowering Policy Changemakers.
• Thursday, October 24, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm ET, AEI presents The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970: Is It Time for Reform? with R. Richard Geddes.
• Friday, October 25, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Faith & Law’s Friday Forums in partnership with One America Movement present: Reflecting on Israel-Gaza at One Year: Perspectives from the three Abrahamic Faiths.
• Saturday, October 26th, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm, is the Fall Fest and Bluegrass Jamboree at Dupont Circle. Great food and family-friendly music is on tap, including
• • 1:00 pm: The Kentucky Warblers featuring Kevin Church and Norman Wright
  • 2:00 pm: Pictrola
  • 3:00 pm: The High and Wides
  • 4:00 pm: Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass

While this work is over half-a century old, it remains one of the most influential works of sociology, philosophy, and cultural anthropology. The book actually is credited with coining the term “social construction.” Its profound impact comes from the fact that the authors, of which Berger was the primary, posit that knowledge exists, grows, and changes within social groups. The work foresees our current cultural conversations on the nature and meaning of gender, sexuality, life, and, of course, truth itself. Berger and Luckmann lay the groundwork for much of the future work on social construction, the stratification of cultures, and religion, the Enlightenment, and what comes next. 

Despite its depth as an academic work, The Social Construction of Reality is fairly accessible to the discerning reader and well worth the work.