March 30, 2008
“Living Hope”
1 Peter 1:3-9

A story by Allen V. Harris:

While walking along the street, a woman found an object: small, round, dark, smooth and quite mysterious.  She believed it to be a precious jewel.

She quickly learned that whenever she held it in both of her hands and focused upon it, she would have powerful feelings of peace and self-assurance wash over her, and her attitude in life improved immensely; she was more positive with it.

When she set the gem down, or put it away, the feeling went away, or changed and became less positive.  So, she carried it with her as much as she could, to take it out and hold it as often as possible to bring back those good feelings.

She decided to take the object to a friend of hers who was an expert in all sorts of things, to have it appraised for what its value was.  He looked at it carefully and announced clearly, “My dear, you have indeed found something precious, worth far more than its own weight.  You have found Hope.”

She was elated.  Of course, that was the feeling she experienced.  Hope.  But why would it only be present when she brought it out, held it tightly, and focused upon it.  Why couldn't its magical powers be within her all the time.

Her friend, the expert in all things, began to say.  “Yes, you do have Hope in your hands, but there is one thing about which you are confused…”  Before he could finish his thought, she was out the door, because she was elated that the precious jewel she had found had a name, and it was Hope.

She decided that since this jewel was so precious, she would sew a beautiful cloth bag for it, to protect it, and so she could safely keep it in her pocket at all times, bringing it out when she really needed hope. 

One day, as she was going about her life rather normally, she was walking home when the weather took a turn for the worse.  She was caught in the rain, a torrential downpour that soaked her to the bone.  It was quite some time before she got home and took off her wet clothes, setting them in the sink to drain before she could dry them. 

Later, as she was wringing out her pants, she discovered that she had forgotten to take out the precious gem, Hope, wrapped in its fine bag.  She was dismayed, not because she worried about the stone, but that her beautiful bag might have been ruined.  Indeed, soaked and wrapped tightly around the object, the bag was a mess.  However, when she plopped the stone out of the bag, she cried out in dismay.  The dark, smooth stone had a thin crack across its face.

She held the broken stone tightly, and focused very hard upon it.  Indeed, the feelings of warmth, peace, courage, and hope did, in fact, begin to come over her.  She was relieved, but still concerned and set the stone with its crack on the counter.  The feelings subsided.

That evening, she read in her devotional a poem by the great preacher and author, Howard Thurman:
Once again the smell of death rides on the winds,
And fear lurks within the shadows of the mind.
One by one the moments tick away.
Days and nights are interludes
Between despairing hope and groping faith.
Of this bleak desolation, Life seems unaware:
Seeds still die and live again in answer to their kind;
Fledgling birgs awake to life from prison house of shell;
Flowers bloom and blossoms fall as harbingers of fruit to come;
The newborn child comes even on the wings of death;
The thoughts of men are blanketed by dreams
of tranquil days and peaceful years,
When love unfettered will keep the heart and mind
In ways of life that crown our days with light.(1)

This seemed to relate to her broken stone, but she could not understand how.  Her sleep that night was restless, and when she woke the next day she immediately remembered that her friend had tried to tell her just a bit more about her precious jewel, Hope, when she had run off to enjoy its beauty.  She called and asked him what else he was trying to tell her.  “My dear friend, I suspect you have already discovered what I was trying to tell you.  The precious object you have is, indeed, Hope.  That is true.  What you are wrong about is that it is not a gem, a jewel, a valuable stone.  It is a seed.  It is a seed that yearns to be planted with a plant inside that will need your nurturing care and constant attention.”

She was deeply disappointed, but relieved to have at least found out that the crack was not her fault.  Of course, it had cracked because the water had initiated its germination process.  She picked it up and looked in, and there the smallest tip of a sprout could be seen.  She remembered Thurman's words: Seeds still die and live again in answer to their kind.  While she mourned the loss of her exquisite and mysterious gem, she new what she had to do.

That day, knowing that by planting the seed called Hope she would be giving up the powerful feelings it gave her while holding it, she boldly planted it in her front yard in a place she carefully prepared for it.  Each day, in the beginning, she cared for it, watering it, fertilizing it, plucking weeds from around it, until a tender sprig arose to greet the sun.

And as the sprig grew into a sapling, and the sapling into the tree it was always meant to be, the woman noticed ever so gradually that the same feeling she had holding her “gem” came back.  She did not need to hold on to anything, but simply receive the gift.  Never quite as strong as it was before, the feelings were much more constant.  She had found a living hope had been born in her anew.

In fact, she eventually came to realize that the feeling of Hope now pervaded her life completely as outside her home a beautiful and stately tree stood over her neighborhood, giving joy and shade, comfort and play, to all her neighbors as well as herself.  It gave great hope to her community, not to mention lots and lots of beautiful, small, round, smooth, dark, and very mysterious gemstones!

* * * * * * * * * *

My beloved sisters and brothers.  I do believe God puts into the path of all the people in the world seeds of hope that any one of us can plant, nurture, and reap the rewards of.  This is part of God's gift of life to us all.

Those of us who witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ have a particular ability, if we but use it well, to recognize that the powerful feelings of hope that can be found all around us are not fully realized if we but hold them to ourselves, as if hope were a possession all our own.

We give testimony to a savior who, like a precious seed himself, was buried in the ground and sprouted on the Day of Resurrection.  We must be willing to give up our special hold on Hope and offer it to God, who will receive our gift and, in time, enlarge it for all to see and experience.

Hope was not meant to be kept tightly in our pockets as if it were a gift for us and us alone.  Hope must be boldly planted in our front yards, in the middle of the town square, in the public places for all to enjoy.  It is our job as gardeners of hope to care for it, nurture it, and ensure its well-being for all to enjoy its fruits.

If nurtured tenderly and continually, this Hope will grow strong enough to weather the storms of life.  Just ask the early church, to whom 1 Peter was written.  They had to weather the storms of outright persecution, and did so through being reborn into the living hope of Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

Somewhere in your life there sits a small, round, dark, smooth object that may look like a precious stone.  In fact, there are probably numerous such objects, the fruit of many others' Hope.  Pick it up, but do not cling too close.  Find a place to plant your seed of Hope so that it might not just be a passing feeling, but an abiding presence, for you, and for all who pass your way.

Then you, too, will experience a new birth into a living hope.

Amen.

(1) “Life Seems Unaware” in Meditations Of The Heart by Howard Thurman, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1953/1981), p. 61



Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2008 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096