Our Hope is in the Lord

          I am going to say something political from the pulpit this morning.  Feel free to tune out if you don’t like church and politics to mix.

          Ready?

          I am tired of politics. 

I am particularly exhausted by the current melee some are calling a presidential race, which to me resembles something more like a traveling three ring circus.

          I am tired of the rapid-fire reporters, who document every move of the contest by slinging out bites of news that nourish just a little bit less than your typical circus fare – cotton candy and caramel covered popcorn.

          That’s my political statement.  I am tired of politics.       

          I have a confession too.  I have been caught up in politics lately.  I mean, I have been drawn into the fray, and I have gorged myself in the feeding frenzy of sound bites, exit polls, and primary night results.  I have become addicted to the hyper-drive spinning wonder that is the twenty-four hours news channel.  I have sat too many nights in the un-holy glow of my television set and listened to the politicians and their pundits carry on like kids sniping and picking at one another.      

          I don’t beat up on myself too hard though, because the presidential race is at least interesting and novel.  I mean, we have genuine war hero, a woman, and an African American man, vying for the presidency.  And most people agree that all three have a decent shot at the top spot.  All three make colorful speeches in which they promise a multitude of things to the American people.  All three have promised that they can deliver one thing in particular.  Each has promised us unity – (if we will just check their box on the ballot).  That is, each has promised they can unify the people of America behind common cause and purpose.

          In a world that is characterized by difference, and plagued by our inability to cope with difference, I must admit, the promise of harmonious unity sounds good to me. 

          So, I began to study which of the three I thought could most likely call into reality this distant dream of unity. 

          And I began to believe.  I began to believe that one of the three could actually do it.  And so, I pinned my hopes for unity to the thoroughbred candidates in the presidential horse race.

          Then, about ten days ago I started studying for this sermon. 

(If you want to stay the same don’t pick up your Bible.  The Bible will rough you up.  The gospel of John roughed me up.)

          The gospel of John jerked me away from the mesmerizing glow of my TV set, and then crushed my hope that unity could be delivered by the presidential hopefuls.

          What am I talking about?

          Jesus is leaving.  We talked about that last week. 

          We’re in the same farewell scene this morning.  Jesus is saying goodbye to the disciples.  He tells them that he is going away, and they cannot come with him.

          He is going, of course, to be arrested and killed.  But before he leaves the last supper scene, he prays.

          He prays saying, may they be one as we are one.  “[I ask not only on behalf of these disciples of mine, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one .]”  “…that they may all be one…as you, Holy God, are in me and I am in you…may they be one as we are one…”

          It is a prayer for unity.

          Now, mind this – Jesus’ prayer for us is unity and oneness.  It is not a prayer that we become uniform.  It is not a prayer that the wonderful variety and various differences between us fade and blend into vanilla cream.  It is not a prayer that we all worship at the same church in the same way; it is not a prayer that we all hold the same particular beliefs. Rather, Jesus’ prayer is that we might be one as He and the Creator are one.

          Now….God, the father, and Jesus, the son, are one bound together in unity by their mutual love.  So, the prayer for unity, at it’s core, is an expression of Jesus’ earnest hope that we will become linked and locked together by the same adhesive love that has Jesus glued to God.

          As I said, when I began to work on it, this gospel piece, in which Jesus spoke this generous prayer to God on our behalf, shook me from the grip of the presidential clown parade and shouted in my heart, “Hendree wake up!  Unity is found in one place!  Unity is found in the love of God made known in Jesus Christ.”

          That’s what we believe. 

          If we want to be unified, one, made whole, complete, then we submit to the love of God.  If we seek unity, then we must figure out how we can flood our hearts and minds and, indeed the world, with the love of Christ.

          There is no other way.  The love of Christ binds; all the rest is cotton candy.

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          Now, I am glad to be an American.  I love living in this country, and I consider myself a responsible citizen.  I have voted, and I will continue to exercise my cherished right to vote.  I consider my right to participate in the process a privilege.  But I will not place my hope in any politician or political system.

          We must not place our hope in any politician or political system.

          See - our hope is in the Lord. 

          You know it’s freeing really, once we remember that basic, ground level tenet of our faith.

          Someone can ask you, “Who are you voting for?  What do you think about all this presidential mess?  Who do you hope wins?” 

          And we can answer, “Oh, I don’t know, such and such is okay, or I’m not much for this and that, but I’ll tell you this, my hope, my hope is in the Lord.”

          “What do you mean?” our friends will ask with funny looks on their faces.

          And we’ll say, “I mean I am a Christian.  My hope is that I, we, all of us, will be overcome and struck into one by God’s love.”

          We’ll get funny looks, I promise you that, but what a relief to pin our hopes to the son of God, rather than to the son or daughter of a political party.

          Some of my political activist friends have heard this testimony from me and they say, “Okay.  Okay.  We get it, you’re real faithful.  That’s great.  But don’t you think there is hope in this platform, or that, or this, or….?”

          And it tastes like freedom when the words form in my mouth, “My hope is in the Lord who prayed for me just before he left this world.”

          Try it.  Our hope is in the Lord.  Our Hope is in the Lord.  Our hope is in the Lord.  Amen.