The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a
Pulitzer Prize winning novel written by John Steinback in 1939. The author
builds up a story around the Great Depression, one of the most challenging
times in the US history. In the story the Joad family has to leave their
farmhouse in Oklahoma desolate and head for California because they have been
told there is plenty of work there, and grapes in huge clusters – like land
with milk and honey. But on their journey to the promised land Grandpa dies,
then Grandma dies. The remaining members press on. They finally make it to
California. But their hope gets crushed by brutal reality – few jobs and too
many peoples. Some were even dying of starvation. But the Joad family never
gives up. They work hard, they are compassionate toward the needy and help
them, and they hunger for justice. In the final chapter of the book, the family
takes shelter from the flood in an old barn. Inside they find a young boy and
his father, who is dying of starvation. Ma realizes there is only one way to
save the man. She looks at her oldest daughter, Rose of Sharon, who just gave
birth a stillborn baby. Rose of Sharon understands and knows what to do. She goes
to the man and has him drink her breast milk. The story ends with a sign of hope
in the midst of hopeless circumstances.
Abram, Childless?
In Genesis 12 we meet Abram, that
is exalted father. But unlike his name, Abram was not a father –
childless, fruitless. When he was 75 years old, God called him to go to the
land that he would show him and promised that he would give him many children.
Abram waited, waited, waited for 10 years. But nothing happened. Then Abram and
Sarai decided to do something. They decided to have a child through Sarai’s
servant, Hagar. But God appeared to Abram and changed his name – from Abram to
Abraham, that is father of a multitude. Then God said to him, “Your wife
Sarah will bear you a son.” So again, Abraham waited, waited, waited. Waiting
is hard.
Another 13 years passed. In today’s scripture now Abraham is 99 years old. Perhaps he might question himself and even God, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?” (cf. 17:17) But again, in this hopeless situation God appears to Abraham and says, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” At that time Sarah, who was in the tent and overheard the conversation, laughs and says to herself, “An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?” God hears the question in their minds and says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby.” By God’s grace Abraham and Sarah believe, they wait, they hope.
UMC, Hopeless?
Across the country, as of June 16,
more than 5,800 churches have left the UMC over the LGBTQ issue. In the New
England Conference 14 churches officially made a request for disaffiliation and
got approval during the annual conference this month. Among them, one Korean
UMC left, and several other Spanish-speaking churches left the denomination. Where are we headed? Is there any hope left?
The annual statistical report says that the UMC in our conference is on the steady decline. The number of churches decreased from 630 in 2010 to 561 in 2022, and the membership decreased from 152 in 2010 to 117 in 2022. In our own Katahdin district, out of 77 churches, 8 churches were not able to get a pastoral appointment for the upcoming year. Where are we headed? Is there any hope left?
As of July 1st, it marks the start of my 10th year ministry here in Houlton, ME. While I was attending the annual conference last week, some of my colleagues said to me, “Are you still up there? What are you doing there?” I wish I could show them some kind of tangible fruits of the ministry. I could not but ask myself, “What’s left? What’s next? Where am I headed? Is there any hope left?”
Hoping against Hope
For me personally, Abraham’s story
is a great encouragement. It’s a
story of hope. Abraham knew that his
body was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old. He knew that
his wife was old and barren. No hope of new life. But Abraham believed, he
hoped, he never gave up, he was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever
he promises. Romans 4:18 says, “Hoping against hope, [Abraham] believed that he would become "the
father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous
shall your descendants be."(Rom 4:18, NRSV) I like the way Eugene Peterson
translates this verse in the Message
Bible:
When everything was hopeless,
Abraham believed anyway, deciding to
live not on the basis of what he saw
he couldn't do but on what God said he
would do. And so he was made father
of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to
have a big family, Abraham!" (Emphasis
is mine.)
If we continue to read Abraham’s story in patience, finally we get to Genesis 21:1-2, saying,
The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for
Sarah as he had promised. Sarah
conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.
God promises. And God fulfills his promises. Then, what is Abraham’s role? His role is to have faith in God. Faith is a verb. Hope is a verb. In the meantime, between Genesis 18 (God making a promise to Abraham) and Genesis 21 (God keeping his promise), Abraham lives out his faith. In particular, he prays for his family. He prays for his nephew, Lot and his family. He prays for their salvation. Before he became a father of many nations, he became a father of one. He stared with one person. He started with his family.
I Have a Dream
Today
So where do you see the signs of hope today? I see
the signs of hope in new pastors in
the UMC. This year at the annual conference 9 pastors were newly ordained as
deacons (2) and elders (7), 7 were commissioned as provisional members, 14 were
licensed as a local pastor, and 9 were appointed as a certified lay minister.
Where do we see the signs of hope among us? Recently, God nudged Joyce and me to do something for the homeless people in our community. We asked ourselves, “What can we do?” Then, we realized that they love to have hot coffee in the morning. So we started to make coffee and deliver it to them every morning, getting to know them as a person and listening to their stories. It’s a baby step. We don’t know what’s next. We just take one step at a time. But in this process, we see the God of hope.
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. stood before the Lincoln Memorial and cried out to the nation, “I have a dream. I have a dream today.” It was not a personal preference, but a dream deeply rooted in God’s promises. Dr. King believed, he waited, he hoped. He sang a song of hope by faith:
I
have a dream today…
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
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