I love language. The beautiful complexities and joyful absurdities of the phenomenon that is human language. I’ve studied linguistics from anthropological and sociological lenses; I’ve lived immersed in a language not my own (Swahili in Tanzania); I grew up surrounded by two languages existing in a sisterly-sort of way (English and Spanish in Tucson). Maybe it’s my upbringing that’s caused me to pay attention to words and how they play with each other and with our understanding.
The name of our church congregation is Esperanza, which is Spanish for hope. The Spanish verb esperar can mean either “to wait” or “to hope” depending on how it’s used. Waiting. Hoping. The two certainly seem linked in my mind. In Romans 8, Paul writes, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (8:24-25).
In English, various dictionary definitions describe hope as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. It can be used in English in a wishful-thinking sort of way as in, “I hope it rains soon.” We use it in every day speech from the ordinary to the deepest concerns: “I hope we get to the store before it closes.” “I hope my family starts getting along better.” “I hope I don’t get covid.” “I hope I don’t burnout in my job.”
For what do you hope?
There’s an older sense of the word hope in English, “a feeling of trust.” It’s this older use of the word that seems to open up a fuller understanding of how the word hope is used in the Bible: A confident expectation. A sure and certain trust.
Sarah Henrich, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Luther Seminary, writes about the theme of hope throughout the Old and New Testaments, how we “wait for the Lord” and “watch for the day of the Lord when justice and peace will kiss.” She describes how hope is imagining God’s future and persevering in faith that it will arrive.
When we say “Hope Grows Here” we state our confidence that God is causing God’s love to grow among us. We act in such a way that demonstrates to the community our trust in God, our trust that God is now and will continue to use us to spread Christ’s peace into this world. When we say “Hope Grows Here” we assert that we are indeed “a safe place for celebration, healing, rejoicing, and renewal” (see our Welcome Statement).
In what ways do you demonstrate your hope—your trust, your confidence—in God?
Join me in bringing your time, talents, and treasure to Esperanza, this community of Hope, so that God may use them, use us, to hold out that hope to our wider community. Hope Grows Here.
God’s peace and grace to you this day,
Pastor Annemarie
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash