THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

A few years ago, I attended a conference run by the Trinity Institute in New York. The conference was called "God's Unfinished Future: Why it Matters Now" and talked about eschatology - a big word meaning the endtimes. This came to mind recently in the aftermath of the (most recent) predicted ‘end of the world’ of 21 May by Harold Camping of Family Radio.
What bothered me about Mr. Camping’s prediction was that he was exclusionary. He articulated an angry, vengeful God who would reject the majority of humanity. In doing so, the chosen few who would have been raptured (according to Mr. Camping) would receive the gift of God’s grace, whereas the rest of the world would suffer terrible agony. This goes against my understanding of God as a God of love, and grace, and peace. I truly believe that salvation is available for all of us, and that God’s infinite patience and mercy will penetrate all of us, and that we are all able to receive salvation through Christ – that’s the whole point of living as an Easter people. I heard Mr. Camping’s predictions as a theology of fear, rather than one of hope.
Back at the conference, the speakers offered a different perspective on the endtimes that stayed with me. Using such texts as the Book of Revelations, and the "Left Behind" series (which offers a rather dismal and exclusionary approach to the endtimes), the discussion did not focus on the endtimes as a time of a chosen few being saved and removed from the planet into the Kingdom while the rest of humanity were reduced to a suffering, burning, unworthy people. Rather, the focus of the endtimes was one of hope. The message shared was not one of a far-off heaven (as a destination) but instead of the kingdom of God being an on-going journey made accessible to everyone in the here and now. One of the speakers, Jürgen Moltmann, used the phrase "revitalizing the audacity of hope."
We, as Christians, are invited to be humble. We do not have all the answers, nor can we understand how God expresses his love to all of his family. We do our best to live out our faith in the world around us, respecting God’s authority in all the world. And we live in hope.
As humans, we tend to be afraid of the unknown, and try to explain or dominate that over which we do not have control. We try to control the world around us, not realizing that in removing the unknown, we also remove the possibility of hope. And it is this hope that guides us and helps us to strive toward being better people. As Christians we are challenged to be a people of hope. Why NOT embrace the unknown, and hope for a better world? Yes, we might have setbacks and specific attempts may fail, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot hope. Not a utopian, overly-optimistic hope, but a realistic and positive hope, one that acknowledges potential difficulties and still focuses on the overall attempt. As Christians we’re invited to embrace an audacious hope that celebrates God as the God of all times and places; a God who loves us all and gives everyone an opportunity to come to the Kingdom as part of the family. As Christians we’re invited to live in such a way as to revitalize that audacity of hope for all the world to see.