The Hope Within Us
The epistle for Sunday comes from the first letter of Peter, and it includes this line: "Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you." What a profoundly counter-cultural thing, to be ready at every moment to speak a word of hope. Usually, folks in our society are ready at every moment to speak a word of busyness, or anxiety, or boredom.
You know what I'm talking about. "How's it going," we casually ask one another--friends and strangers alike. And what is the typical response? "Busy! Super busy!" I hear that most often, like we've said it so often we don't even have to consider the question anymore; it's just automatic. Life is hectic, out of control, busy. If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone answer that question with something related to how busy they are, I'd be a rich man.
But a word about the hope that is within us? Not many of us are ready to present such an account. Which led me to remember something that I heard a few years ago from Curtis Almquist, former superior of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (an Episcopal monastic community in Cambridge, MA): “I would say it is a wonderful discipline to always have a testimony of praise of our lips. For those of us who call ourselves ‘followers of Jesus Christ,’ I would say we need to be in touch with the ‘why’ on a daily basis. Why? And not why did you become a Christian, but rather, ‘Why have you remained a Christian.’”
Curtis was talking about the lost art of testimony giving. We seem to have lost touch with the ability to articulate for ourselves, let alone for someone else that we might know or meet, the point of all this faith stuff--the hope that is within us. As Episcopalians, we have become too squeamish about bearing witness--sharing our faith, sharing our hope, sharing good news--to other people. But as Brother Curtis reminds us, this is foundational stuff. After all, isn’t a witness just someone who has seen or heard something that they can attest to, that they are willing to affirm, that they are willing to share with someone?
What if we tried to reclaim the practice of testimony sharing? I mean, what if we were consciously prepared to share some good news--the Good News--amidst so much bad news that people face in the course of a day? What if we gave thought to the question of "how's it going," and instead of regurgitating the automatic response, "I'm super busy," we considered the hope that is within us, and were willing to share it with someone else?
