by Rev. Deb Dysert
MCC Detroit clergy staff
I wonder what the history books will say about us. Fifty or one hundred years from now, what will the historians be saying about the culture of people in America as Barak Obama begins his presidency? What we (you and I) say and do over the course of the next months will determine what those historians have to say, at least in part.
We sometimes get so caught up in the day-to-day events of our lives and the multitude of challenges that we face that we forget that we can shape our futures. I believe that. As I sat in church today, listening to the sermon, I heard these words, "I am trying in my own life to change my wishes into hopes." Now, I admit that I am going to have to spend some time thinking and praying about the impact of those words for me personally, but I know that spending time with that concept will change my faith walk and bring it back to center.
You see, I often spend too much time "wishing" my life away. I am sure you know what I mean. I wish this meeting was over, I wish I had more money, I wish gas prices were lower, I wish my relationships were going better, I wish I knew how to forgive, I wish I knew how to move on, etc.
It seems to me that what we need to be doing is changing our wishes into hopes. That is what the advent season is about. I also think that is one of the things that can happen for us as a country, a state, a city and a community as we see significant changes in who is leading our government. Somehow it seems more powerful to have hope that our circumstances will change, rather than wishing it to be so.
Most faith traditions share a similar belief that, simply put, states that what we think or say is what will come back to us. If I am focusing my attention on negative things in my life, that is what will come back to me and I will most likely continue to be surrounded by negative circumstances. However, if I am focusing my thoughts and words on hopes of what can be, that is what will come back – more positive circumstances.
God wants us to have faith and trust that God is able to make changes in our life. God also wants us to demonstrate that trust and hope in the words we say and the attitudes we display.
One of the things I love about watching interviews with President-elect Obama is the freshness of his smile, the ease of his words, the unpretentious banter between he and Michelle. He sounds confident and he has simplicity in his responses that brings me back to center. They remind me of the child-like simplicity of what my faith was like years and years ago. And then life happened and somehow things got muddy. Things were not child-like anymore and life seemed far from simple.
Faith should be simple, though. God is able to do whatever we believe God can do. The trick here is that we have to choose to believe. We have to choose to hope. We have to choose to believe life will change with this election and we have to choose to believe that God can change the circumstances we are in, whatever they are. Hope needs to be an action verb, not a passive word.
We are in a great position as we enter into 2009! The future is really in our hands – and in our thoughts and in our words. Let us look to 2009 choosing to hope in the changes happening all around us and claiming possibilities as we hope for the future. God bless!
