In the first letter of Peter
he encourages followers of Jesus “Always be ready to make your defense to
anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do
it with gentleness and reverence.”
This phrase had a
particularly meaning in the context in which it was written to the burgeoning early
Christians in the hostile environment in which the found themselves but it
means something to us as well and raises some pretty significant questions.
In particular, what is the
hope that is within you? And, when you can identify what that hope is how you share
it in gentleness and reverence?
Take a moment to contemplate what
you hoe for as a follower of Jesus.
Like last week when we
discussed the idea of fear, as seen in the fear wheel, there would be a great
diversity in how we understanding:
We hope in life after death.
We hope for life in all its
fullness.
We hope in the forgiveness of
sins.
We hope our loved ones who
have died are with God.
We hope for meaning and
purpose in life.
We hope to encounter God more
fully.
We hope to find answers to
our spiritual and life questions.
We hope for the best for our
children.
We hope for justice for all
peoples.
We hope for a shorter
sermon...
And the list can go on.
Whatever our hopes might be
finding a way to meaningfully convey them when we are asked about our faith is
what Peter is asking us to do and to do it with gentleness and reverence.
One of the most powerful yet
gentle ways we can share the hope within us is to learn to tell our stories as stories
which encapsulate our walk with God.
Each of us has many stories
and for each of us they are different but I thought I would share just one
story from my life which helps explains the hope within me.
Growing up we moved around a lot. By the time I was 30 I had lived in over a
dozen places and the longest I had been anywhere was 5 years. This had a big impact especially through my early
teenage years. I can remember moving the
year after a turned 12 and making the promise that I would not make friends anymore
because it was too upsetting when I had to move.
In the mater teens at Uni I
had a real sense of dislocation and homelessness. It was during these years I came to understand
the relationship between aboriginal people and the land. They did not have any sense of land ownership
but rather a sense that they belonged to the land. This further deepened my sense of being
lost. In some ways I think I was a bit
like the people of the Exodus, a nomad and homeless people.
It was in my mid 20s I made
the decision to become a minister and one of the first things that was done after
I put name forward was I was asked to preach.
I still have strong memories of ascending the three steps into the
pulpit at St Andrews in Bundaberg. 3 steps – in the name of the father &
the Son and The Holy Spirit. As I
preached on that day, despite preaching a sermon which I later thought of
utterly heretical Pelagianism, I had an overwhelming sense of being home.
Home was not a place, home is
the promised relationship with God. Whether
we are dispossessed people or the dispossessors, whether we are transient or
fixed in our location, our true home is with God. This understanding of our true home reconciled
in God with one another has changed how I view people and myself and God. And most importantly it has helped me understand
that I am not so much like the people of the Exodus in the Old Testament but I
am part of a new creation yet to come in all its fullness.
The sense of dislocation is
not such a negative in my life but has been converted to a sense of hopeful
anticipation. This is just one story
from my life but one I have certainly reflected on and theologised.
Telling stories of our lives
which connect them to our faith is one thing, doing so with reverence is
another. What kind of reverence and how
is it for? Reverence for our listener and
the value of their story, reverence for ourselves and the importance of our own
lives and reverence for God and the story of God’s life shared with us in
Jesus.
What is the hope that is within you? Can you find the stories from your life that help you explain that hope in terms of your relationship with God?
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