Hope Never Dies
Sunday Sermon March 21, 2010
~ Hope
“But as for me, I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.”
Psalm 71:14
Hope never dies. We can lose hope or it can be asleep in our heart. We should find it or awaken it. But it never dies. A human dies; hope stays. The kind of hope that we realize of our deceased ones that when they are in Heaven with the angels and saints.
To keep hope always alive, we need to trust in God, faith, truth, justice, beauty and such values. Of course, we must be optimistic. In a humorous explanation, always see the donut, not the hole of the donut. Let’s see the thorns that are on the stem of a beautiful flower, not the flower that has thorns on its stem.
Our thoughts and our dreams, our beliefs have power to bring success and happiness or misfortune. In our hands are the tools to improve our lives and our surroundings. With hope, everything is possible.
At times it happens that we might find ourselves in the spotlight of gossip or unfriendly eyes and in a negative atmosphere. Simply remember that there is hope to lead us beyond it. Also it might happen that we are lonely, discouraged, and with our sorrows. At these times, there is always hope to overcome. It can also happen that we work hard, night and day, we sow good seeds of love, unity, reconciliation, peace; but as the answer you might hear, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
Again, it is never the end. There is always hope.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has passed through all these trials and tribulations and he ultimately was crucified. Even with his death, He brought us hope. Hope beyond the grave. He will never leave us alone; especially when we need his guidance. Let’s say the human mind is always with doubt. Does God keep his promise? We ask where was God when we needed Him the most. In the same way, the Lord asks us where are you, I need you everyday.
Let’s focus and think as collective group, a congregation, a Church, a unity of Christians. The Lord throughout the centuries and until today makes His effort to give us (as a unit) hope. As an individual, have his/her own hopes, we as Christians have a united hope.
Here there is a good trick. First of all, we should be united for hope to become a reality. As a Christian nation, we would love, peace, prosperity and we want to be victorious and stay strong. We pray and we “hope” for it.
Now I would like to demonstrate how God can answer our prayer and how our hope can become a reality. This bunch of sticks is our unity. Only one stick is an individual like me. Let’s separate one from the bunch. Our enemy, evil, misfortune, you name it can very easily break it. Now let’s take two sticks from the bunch representing two persons together. Try to break it. It is more difficult. When we keep adding a third, a fourth, more and more and it becomes a unity of sticks, it becomes more and more difficult to break. We will stay strong as a group. Do you understand the mentality I am explaining to you? Hope becomes reality.
This is the way God works to always make us stronger. God has given us each other and such is the strength. In other words, hope is always with us and we are each others strength. We are each others happiness, peace and love.
The Lord has already answered our good prayers. He has given us His gift and His blessings. He has kept His promise. It is up to us to accept it.
Amen.
