October 2002

      The first sermon I preached at Christ Our Hope was before it was officially Christ our Hope and before I could say for certain that there would ever be a Christ Our Hope.  On Sunday, February 13, 1977, a group of people gathered for the first worship service we held as a mission congregation.  Some of those present had already committed to forming a new congregation and had been actively involved in preparing for the first service.  Others were very interested but still uncertain.  Still others were just curious, I suppose, wondering what in the world a Lutheran was.

      The bulletin cover for that Sunday had the words “Leap for joy!” printed on it and were taken from one of the readings for the day.  And that’s how I began: by saying that I felt like leaping for joy.  Because that first worship service meant a new beginning, a fresh start for a number of us, and because it could lead to bringing new hope and joy into the lives of many.

      I then admitted that I had a knot in the pit of my stomach and that it had been there for weeks.  For weeks I had wondered, What do I say?  Where should I begin?  Where should this congregation begin?  I had spent the previous months going door to door in the local neighborhoods meeting and talking with hundreds and hundreds of people, some of whom would be there that day.  I knew they would be coming for different reasons, have different expectations, and that most were searching for something, something they couldn’t quite name perhaps.  So I kept wondering what to say, where to begin.

     Where I did begin was with something the poet and novelist James Dickey wrote for the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter the year before:

                Lord, let me shake

   With purpose.  Wild hope can always spring

   From tended strength.  Everything is in that.

          That and nothing but kindness. 

                  More kindness, dear Lord

Of the renewing green.

 

                   That is where it has to start:

  With the simplest things.

          More kindness will do nothing less

                  Than save every sleeping one

          And night-walking one

Of us.

     That is how hope is born among us, Dickey was suggesting.  We must shake with purpose.  And where is has to start is with the simplest things: more kindness.  It’s what Jesus tried to get through to the people of his day and what he’s still trying to get through: it is the kindness of God that saves us and it is our kindness one to the other that gives hope.  And that’s where I began because that’s what most came in search of: hope.

      In a few weeks we will gather to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the congregation.  And what I said all those years ago I could say again: I feel like leaping for joy!  Not only because of all that has happened and what it has meant, but also because this congregation still means a new beginning, a fresh start for many people.  People still come in search of something and the name I would put on it is the same name from years ago: hope.  And I feel like leaping for joy because the congregation itself is just beginning, in a sense – beginning to fulfill its purpose and experience the exhilaration of that.

      And what was true then remains true.  For hope to continue to grow, we must shake with purpose.  And the future we will have will depend on the simplest things.  More kindness.

      I would hope that when we gather on October 20 we will all of us leap for joy!  And praise the God who has brought us this far!  And shake with purpose and wild hope!  And remember the simplest things.

God be with you,

Jeff

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