hope

As I've mentioned before, every Wednesday, I hang out with Robbie all day. It's nice for me because I, for the most part, get to forget about work for a day, and he and I get to do something fun (any advice on how I should handle this Wednesday where Writings from the Wilderness launches?).

Anyway, last Monday, Saint mentioned that Obama was going to be at DU on Wednesday and I thought it would be memorable to go and see him and, while I'm not registered with either party and, as a pastor, I believe it's unethical for me to endorse a candidate, I appreciate listening to anyone who's a good speaker (much like pagan Augustine listening to sermons from Ambrose because it was good rhetoric). As for Robbie, surely he won't remember being there, but I can show him pictures later in life and, at least on Wednesday, being in the midst of a crowd would be great fun for him.

In the end, I was impressed. The arena where Obama was speaking holds around 10,000 people, and they had a huge overflow space. On two days notice, Obama filled both on a weekday morning and had a couple thousand people standing outside on the lacrosse field (which is where we were). It was wild to watch the "organizers" try and figure out what to do with the crowd and Obama's desire to make sure we all saw him. To make this happen, he came out to the field and addressed those of us there before giving his main speech in the arena, which was piped out to the field over the loudspeakers (and a huge chunk of the field crowd hung out on a cold January morning to listen). Given the sense of excitement and hope, I can see why JFK's daughter Caroline compares Obama to her dad ... like him or not, the guy knows how to inspire the masses.

By the time we made it home, Robbie was so tire that he stayed asleep in his backpack carrier for a couple hours. You can see this and other pictures over on my flickr page.

This past Thursday I was given an Good Neighbor award by Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods (CHUN) for my work in the area of public safety through Neighbors on the Hill (NOTH).

Now, for those of you who know me, you realize that the reason I'm so involved in my community is that I see it as essential to my vocation as a citizen ... in other words, it's part of how I live out my faith.

Most of you who read my blog also are most likely aware that I believe vocation is at the heart of how we need to do evangelism in a post-Christian world. The general idea is that, as we live out our faith, our lives will look different and people will be prompted by the Spirit to ask what it is that causes us to live our lives the way we do.

While, this approach works to an extent, it has its limitations. After all, I'm not the only one working to make my neighborhood safe ... I wasn't even the only one awarded for my work. In fact, we have atheists, Jews, agnostics and others who are a part of Neighbors on the Hill, and we're all working on making Capitol Hill a better, cleaner, and safer place for all of us to live.

So, what is the other key to Christian living in the New Testament that prompts people to ask what it is about us that's different? According to 1 Peter (and a number of other places), the answer is our Christian hope ... that certain confidence we have that Christ is going to return and, when He does, life will be so incredible that it will far outweigh any suffering we experience on this side of eternity.

May God give us all the hope we need when times are tough and allow that hope to be a wonderful witness to the work of Christ in our lives.

In the Spring of 2003 one of my co-workers at Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) asked me to try and write a pamphlet on the issue of suffering. "Discovering Hope" is the result.

This short pamphlet asks, "Where do you turn when the waves of life come crashing in against you?" and invites the reader to "Discover hope amidst turmoil in the one true anchor you can hold onto - the solid, safe anchor that will never let you go!"

Copies can be ordered from LHM here.