By Wendy Morical
“Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” - John Bytheway
In Pastor Laura’s sermon on the 16th, “Hope and Fear 1 – Do Not Lose Heart,” she invited us to think for a while about our relationship with uncertainty, our response to fear. She stated that having certainty about one’s path is a demonstration of ignorance, as no one can predict what is to come for ourselves, the family and friends we love, our community. The willing acceptance of uncertainty, on the other hand, is the place where our creativity meets the world’s reality. We accept that fear is a part of life and respond with hope.
Hope is the word for the energy that gets us up, the attitude that drives our day-to-day, practical responses to the overwhelming challenges of a richly lived human life. In Pastor Laura’s sermon, she used the term “transformative hope” to identify hope that is the work of faith. This is the hope that is tied to vision, the hope that transcends our individual lives, the hope that Paul encouraged in the Corinthians when he advised them to not lose heart. We were asked to share some of the things that give us hope in troubled times, and many Pilgrims shared their sources of strength: music, sunshine, children, good people doing good work and helping one another…
When we embrace our fears, turning toward them rather than trying to evade them, we may discover new depths of our own goodness, our own possibility, our own strength. In Laura’s words, “uncertainty gives us a place of openness”.
Later on Sunday evening, I happened on an episode of Grantchester and was surprised to hear an echo of our service through one of the character’s words. A street preacher, inspiring students with his passion for justice, said this:
“The people in power, they know. They know that we outnumber them, so they stoke our fear of each other. They don’t think that we have enough hope to overcome those fears. But I have hope. I have faith. Faith that love overcomes all. If you can’t see it well, then I urge you, look closer. It happens in inches.”
When challenge arose in my children’s lives, I sometimes offered them the ‘inch by inch’ pep talk, inspired by a poster I’d seen in a fellow teacher’s room. Even if it was met with an adolescent eye roll, my words were true. Every challenge can be met by incremental actions.
All around us, every day, people of vision and faith respond to negative circumstances with loving action. They do not lose heart. Can you think of people in your life who embody this transformative hope? Can you strive to be more like them?