Hope Telling

The prophet Joel, by Michelangelo, fresco, Sistine Chapel, 1509. Public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Click the image to link.

Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 43, Joel 2:23-32

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.  —Joel 2:27

Our  journey “Through the Bible” is moving toward the conclusion of the Hebrew (“Old”) Testament. In your bulletin, page eight, I’ve printed a brief introduction to the Minor Prophets that we will be looking at for several weeks. I’ve quoted there Bible scholar James Limburg, who says, “…. To a world as torn and troubled as any, these prophets brought a word which they identified as a word from God …. They took up the cause of the powerless, calling for justice to roll through the land …. They spoke of a ruler who would bring peace …. They told of the remarkable forgiving, nurturing, and healing love of God ….”[1]

It's important to remember this thread about healing love, when such a high percentage of the prophets’ words speak of sin, punishment, and curse. In the journey through life, as in our journey through the Bible, if our ears are not tuned to hearing the healing love part, then it’s not too many steps down the path until we are walking through the muck of depression, feeling that nothing can change in a positive manner, and that we may as well give up and die.

When I think about the muck of depression, memories are stirred up from thirty years ago,  when I was serving as associate pastor of a large congregation in Wichita. The associate pastor was assigned primary responsibility for visiting more than 50 members who resided in retirement centers and care homes. The stated goal was to visit each twice per year. But in reality, some didn’t need me that often. A few required more frequent expressions of support. During this phase of ministry, I learned a bit about how deep and dark depression can be for some people near the end of life.

A clergy colleague pointed me to a book by Martin Seligman,[2] a psychologist who examined patients in assisted living situations. Seligman coined the phrase “learned helplessness” to describe the situation in which some seniors find themselves. Some find every detail of life prescribed for them: what they are going to eat, and what they are going to wear, when they will bathe, and when they will go to bed.  They come to believe that nothing they say or do will make any difference to the content or outcome of their day. Sooner or later, people living this way learn that life is hopeless.

Seligman’s work provided a new perspective on ministering to seniors in care-home settings. While some of them needed psychiatric medicine, many needed, just as much, positive outcomes to their actions. In other words, they needed for their opinions to matter and their choices to be respected, even if it was just in very simple things: Would they have corn or beans with their chicken? Would they wear a blue blouse or a red sweater? Would they go to the social hall for games, or stay in their room and watch “Jeopardy”?

Later, Seligman applied his observations to the general public, pointing to other examples of learned helplessness.  We might hear someone say, “Why vote when politicians don't create any real change?”  Or, "I've tried diets, and none of them work.  I just need to stop caring about my health.” Or, “I'm tired of relationships ending badly -- I'll never trust anyone again.”  “Every time I get a new job, it’s a different place full of different people, but the same old stress – I guess I’ll just stay where I’m at, and accept my fate.” Perhaps, you can think of some activity about which you used to be passionate, or area of your life in which you used to try to exercise discipline and control, but now have given up hope.

The prophet Joel spoke to people who must have shared such feelings.  We don't know exactly when Joel conducted his ministry; nothing in the text ties his ministry to the time of a certain king.  But there are enough references to let us know that Judah has been conquered, and Jerusalem destroyed.  The Temple has been rebuilt with foreign aid.  Perhaps the wall around the city has been partially restored. These are people who have suffered national humiliation and uncertainty. 

The occasion for Joel’s oracles is a plague of locusts, more destructive than any within the community’s memory, that has devastated vineyards and orchards.  Pastures look as if they have been consumed by fire, and the granaries stand empty.  There is a severe food shortage.

At this critical moment, Joel focuses upon a task described by Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann as  “hope telling.”[3]  He says that the disaster facing the community will not defeat God.  The vision that he casts of God's new future is so different from what the people experience that it poses a choice: Will they live with an attitude of cynicism, and passively accept an awful fate?  Or, will God's people live with an attitude of hope, and actively pursue God's promised future?

The choice that Joel poses to his community is our choice today. A loved one battles cancer, and despite good medical care and the prayers of the church, the desired cure doesn’t come quickly. A work restructuring derails a promising career and brings financial crisis. Despite time spent leading the kids through homework, still there’s a bad grade, and a conference with the child’s teaching team. It feels like our prayers are unheard. So now what? Will we choose despair or choose hope?

I’ve told you before about the theologian Jurgen Moltmann, and his book entitled Theology of Hope.[4]  Moltmann’s book is all about distinguishing Christian “hope” from a feeling of “optimism.”

Optimism, says Moltmann, is founded on cause and effect thinking.  Based on our experience of the past and present, we draw conclusions about the future.  Optimism can be legitimate when the world is relatively stable. But optimism can be foolish in a rapidly changing situation.

Moltmann insists that Christian hope exists independently of changing circumstances.  Hope is not based on correctly predicting the details of the future.  Hope is grounded in the faithfulness of God.

I’m reminded of Moltmann by my recent TV viewing.  Apart from news, sports, and the occasional game show, there are only a few things I care about watching. One of those things is “Star Trek: Picard.” Season three has just started, so I finally got around to working my way through season two.

The plot involves a rupture in the fabric of time that has led to a terrible dystopian future. The main characters go back in time to repair disastrous events. As they look both backward at what has happened, and forward to what will be, there is a lot of conflict, tension, and despair about their ability to make a difference.

A Character with some clairvoyant abilities peers into the future and prophesies death. At that critical moment, our hero Jean Luc Picard draws his friends out of their helpless depression. He says simply, “I refuse to accept an outcome that has not yet occurred. We have work to do.” It’s not unlike another Picard quotation popular among fans: “The past is written, but we are left to write the future.”

That’s one way to sum up a faithful response to Joel’s prophecy. Will we practice learned helplessness or choose an alternative? Will we embrace cynicism or hope? Our life stories contain difficult and painful chapters. Yet, according to Joel, God’s people have reason for hope: Contrary to present appearances, the future is being written by God, who will bring a new day when “my people shall never again be put to shame.”

NOTES

[1] James Limburg, Hosea – Micah, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988, vii – viii.

[2] Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death, by Martin E.P. Seligman.

[3] “The Hard Work After the Celebrity Prophets,” delivered by Walter Brueggemann, Festival of Homiletics, Tennessee Center for the Performing Arts, Nashville, 22 May 2007.

[4] Theology of Hope is conveniently summarized by Miroslav Volf, “Not Optimistic,” The Christian Century, 28 Dec. 2004, p. 31.

READ MORE, https://www.fpcedw.org/pastors-blog