"For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;" Isaiah 65:17
For so many years this saying has been used to represent that God will make a new earth and this one will pass away. Later in the text though it talks about Jerusalem as being new. If it is a place why would the old pass away? Isn't it just saying it is our responsibility to create the new here, now among us?
This has taken me on a journey this week to starting Doug Abrams and Jane Goodall's book called Hope. In it Doug asks questions of her on and about hope. After all this passage in Isaiah comes after a long round of chastising the people about how bad they were and how this is punishment (being in captivity) for the way they acted towards the earth and one another. Every prophet has this component of writing and planting scriptures of hope.
Jane Goodall says that hope is something we have to be active in. We can't just sit and hope things will be different than they are. Also we can't look at too big of a picture and expect we won't become overwhelmed and paralyzed by all there is to do. The thing about hope is planting it exactly where we are. Working in our own corner and cultivating it in the things we do here.
As I was reading all this I was struck with thoughts of another writer Otis Moss III who in his book Dancing in the Darkness speaks of coming upon his daughter dancing in the dark of her room. How this represented to him hope. That there are places when it seems darkest that we can then dance and change all the negativity within the space.
The thin is renewal does plant hope. Think of baptism and how we are renewed in Christ participating in his death and resurrection. It plants a hope that death no longer has the last say about our lives on earth. That there is something more which comes after. Isn't this the way of things?
People in the days of World War II thought that it was the end. This is why so many writers wrote stories to get people through those dark times. C. S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia came out of this time of despair. The Hobbit and later the series out of this J. R. R. Tolkien's books on elves and wars and humans came out of this. The darkness makes people want to engage with hope. It is what we are supposed to be about because the Gospel is hope in action rooted in love.
Think about the ways the church has shown hope from its earliest beginnings. In Acts all things were held in common so the community could thrive together. Not with whoever has the most wins, but in sharing resources. Paul in his letters to the communities writes to them about their struggles, but the reason these endure are because he also asks for them to encourage one another, give thanks for their witness, and blesses them in the writing. Christians used to be the first people to come to the aid of those who were sick or outcast.
Yes, there have been moments in history where we have forgotten all this and instead acted with fear and in the worst ways towards one another. Yet the example was set for us in Jesus. The one who acts not out of fear for what may happen, but to authentic live how God would have us act and that is a hope we need for today. Where there is no separation but a gospel of love towards all.
Hope is a most precious thing. Cultivate it in your own back yard and you will see the renewing we dream is God's work. It is our work instead. The one where we act and strive to be the way God would love to see the world working. This is the hope we need for the future.
Ye
Pep
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