Cling to Our Hope

You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay; you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.
Isaiah 64:5-9

My stomach sank. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stood in disbelief hoping and praying that what I was seeing wasn’t correct. I was unloading the washing machine and I had just got to the bottom of the load when something fell from the clothes. It was a piece of electronics. Upon closer look, I quickly realized that it was Nathanael’s $300 (and that is only on a Black Friday amazing deal sale) Nintendo Switch. As I stood there staring, I started to beat myself up inside. A memory flashed backed instantly as I remembered that I had picked it up and moved it off the floor the day before. I even recalled that when I put it down, I had seen the pile of clothes I was laying it next to and my brain warned me not to put it too close to the clothes or that it could end up in the washing machine. But that had been yesterday and apparently, I had not taken heed to my own warnings and that morning in a hurry to get a load done, I must have not even realized that I scooped it up and threw it in the washing machine.

Now, I know these are 1st world problems. The fact that I have an electronic that expensive for my child is different topic for another day. Nonetheless, I stood there hoping that in some small chance the water hadn’t affected the machine. I have to even confess- I prayed for a miracle. You see, I pride myself on being attentive and paying attention to what I am doing. I am always getting on my children to pay attention to what they are doing. I am the parent that strongly dislikes waste. I remind my children regularly how important it is to care for what we have. I can’t stand the thought of throwing away money for careless errors and here before my eyes – I had wasted. It was no one else’s fault but my own and I knew it. I didn’t want to tell anyone. I started calculating how long it would be before Nathanael noticed. I even grabbed my phone to see if there was any chance at all to restore it. Everything looked grim. As I read article after article about the disastrous effects of water on these machines and I had no luck turning it on at all, my hope was lost. I knew there was no way out but confessing and admitting my mistake.

As I write this devotion, I wonder how often does this happen to you. Okay – not that you throw your son’s electronic game in the washing machine, but where have you had hopes, dreams and desires, and yet as life takes turns, change happens, even mistakes are made, those hopes seem to be lost.

I imagine this past year has been like that for all of us. We had so many hopes for 2020. I know I had hoped to travel more, to spend more time with family and friends, to save some money in cases of emergencies and even to have a little more time to focus on some long waiting projects that with all 3 of my children moving to full time school I just knew I would be able to complete. And now my hopes are changing, I hope for all of us to stay healthy and that I do not catch or spread the virus, I hope for those suffering with this that they are healed and fully recover and through all of this I hope for each of to stay connected to God and one another despite all the distance and fears and realities that are before us.

And yet, what do we do when the reality turns our stomach over? When what we are hoping for doesn’t happen? When we can’t spend Thanksgiving with all the people we would like? When our traditions are forced to change? When our bodies won’t do the things we are used to it doing? When we know and hear people contracting Covid-19 at alarming rates and some not recovering? When our hearts are breaking and the world is exhausting and complicated and our hope seems to be gone?

As the great prophet Isaiah reminds us over and over again, this is when we keep turning to the Lord. We pray for God’s restoration, mercy and forgiveness. We are reminded that we are the vessels, the clay and God continues to mold us and shape us in this life to prepare us to see hope in a new way. We are humbled so that we may see where we need mercy and grace ourselves. For, I have learned there is a difference in hoping in the things of this world and that of God. God’s hope never fails. God’s hope expands and loves and enters every dark place and walks with us in it and even carries us through it.

As I mustered up enough courage to tell my son (and husband) of my mistake, I prayed to God for the words and strength to tell the truth. I knew I needed to own my part of this and not blame anyone else for my mistake. I prayed for forgiveness and mercy from my family even though I knew full well, I rightfully deserved any of the disappointment and consequences of my actions. I asked God to be with me in this and God most certainly was and continues to be. Nathanael felt so bad for me, he came over and gave me a hug. Craig told me to stop beating myself up, mistakes happen – even though even as I write this I feel foolish and vulnerable. Nevertheless, I was relieved and thankful for the grace given me and a family who showed mercy to me.

Martin Luther once said, “Were I told that tomorrow the world would end, I would plant a tree.” Perhaps in 2020, we may change this to say, “Were I told that tomorrow the world would end, I would decorate a tree.” After all, I hear over and over again how many have been decorating early and just feeling the need for a little more light and joy this year. Well, however we choose to respond, if we, too, were told that the world was to end tomorrow, may we above all cling to God’s hope and remember that our hope is not in this world. Our hope can only be found in Christ – who faced death, died and rose again – who teaches us how to forgive, how to love and how to live.

Join us in worship this Sunday in person, online, live-streaming or even in a zoom room as we begin this new church year in Advent and cling to our hope, our light in darkness, that can only come from our Lord.

In Christ’s love and service always,
Pastor Wendy