I was recently given a copy of Spirit of Hope by the Korean-born philosopher Byung-Chul Han. Although I’ve just started reading this essay, I’m already moved by a central point that Han makes. He claims that we inhabit a culture of fear, and fear, as Scripture tells us, is the opposite of love. Han describes fear as something that narrows our worldview and our perspective. Fear squelches our hope. But Han also distinguishes hope from mere optimism. Optimism refuses to acknowledge sorrow or darkness or despair. Hope, rather, is borne out of sorrow, darkness, and despair. [Byung-Chul Han, The Spirit of Hope, trans. Daniel Steuer, Hoboken, NJ: Polity Press, 2024]
St. Paul says as much in his magnificent Letter to the Romans: “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (5:3-5). Paul’s words are difficult to hear because they assume that we will all suffer. But Paul’s words are remarkable in suggesting that there is a disciplinary progression in bearing patiently with suffering. In doing so, he claims that we will discover hope. We can’t produce hope through our own efforts, but we can receive it as a gift from God, a gift that is always present.
If I wanted to paraphrase what I think Byung-Chul Han is saying, hope is believing that, with God, we always have a future. Han characterizes hope as “the midwife of the new,” (26) a “daydream” (29) that looks forward with a narrative, rather than a “nightdream” that can only look back in fear or anxiety. Daydreams “suggest a We that is ready to act to improve the world” (30). Hope is easy to find, of course, when things are going well. It’s incredibly difficult when we are in despair or depressed or anxious or fearful. And yet, we can’t avoid the central place of hope in the Christian life.
It goes without saying that to live in hope, we need God’s grace. But to live in hope, we also need each other. This is the We that Han describes. If we’re inhabiting a culture and world permeated by fear—and I believe we are—then, the Church is more important than ever before. The Church is a place where we’re schooled to exist together, to mutually encourage one another, to bear with one another, to share in each other’s joys and sorrows, and to call each other to hope. Just as we need God, we need one another if we are to abide in hope.
If you’ve been following the careful planning of this year’s Sunday adult formation sessions, you will have noticed that our theme is directly related to the theme of the 2025 pledge campaign: “Life in Community.” This is intentional. This program year, we’re focusing on the importance of abiding in community and on how we all need each other, even when we’re tempted to go our own way. In a deeply divided time, this intentional focus is of crucial importance. I believe we’re living in a golden moment for the Church. The Church has something unique, which is an identity rooted in the claim of the resurrection, which means that every breath we take is infused with the possibility of newness. We’re never deprived of a future. Every moment is a moment of hope. But notice that the Church can only embody this vision of hope if she continues to gather weekly for corporate worship and then proceed into the world to serve in our Lord’s name. Being together is not an ideal in our minds; it’s a reality lived in the flesh.
January and the first part of February have been difficult for me personally, partly because the weather has been so dreary and unstable, and partly because my heart breaks at the divisiveness I see around me. But also, I’ve struggled because there have been a number of unavoidable factors that have hampered our ability to gather fully on the Lord’s Day as a parish community. The weather has been vexing, and there have been many illnesses. All these things are beyond our control, but I want to name the fact that when any of us is absent from worship, I miss you. I feel a sense of loss because I yearn for the We. And this comes from the foundational fact of Christianity that we need each other. We can’t exist fully without one another. And we become most fully ourselves when we come together, in the flesh, on the Lord’s Day to break bread together, to share in that present and eschatological fellowship of communion, a communion that the world outside the Church knows little about.
In just a few weeks, on Sunday, March 2, our parishioner Bonnie Hoffman-Adams will be leading our next Sunday adult formation discussion on our “Life in Community.” Bonnie and I frequently talk about how Good Shepherd is such a beautiful place of community, and we also reflect on how it can be even more effectively a place of true Christian fellowship. I hope you will make every effort to come on March 2. Remember, we need each other.
But before March 2, we have another opportunity to gather together in person and reflect on how our parish can live in a “spirit of hope.” We should rightly rejoice in how this parish’s recent history has been a visible testament to a “spirit of hope.” When death was near, God gave us new life. But our story isn’t over. We have a future. The Church has a future. And especially in a fearful age that gives up easily, we need to maintain a “spirit of hope” by renewing our commitment to God and one another. Our Parish Visioning Conversation on Sunday, February 23, after Sung Mass is such an opportunity. It will be, first and foremost, a time of mutual encouragement. We exist together and we come together in worship and fellowship to find this mutual encouragement. We need one another. I need to hear your stories, as well as learn of your pain and joy, and you need to encounter mine. February 23 will be a time for us to reflect on why we value this parish so much. Why do we come here week after week? How do you find hope in our life in community? What can others do to help us in that effort to be present here and be involved here? What are your gifts that you long to share? And above all, how is God directing our efforts as we seek to exist in a “spirit of hope.” Before you read another word, please take a moment to register to attend the February 23rd conversation. If you’re introverted and this sounds scary, you’re not alone. No one will be forced to speak, but everyone can. We will simply come together to listen and encourage one another. If you can’t make the conversation, I’d still love to talk with you individually. Please contact me.
It’s my sincere prayer that each of you will find the Church and this parish to be a place that calls you more deeply into a “spirit of hope.” If you’re afraid, come to this place, come and worship and be with others. If your life is great, come to this place, come and worship and be with others. We all need each other, and the world needs the Church. There’s never a time when we don’t need God and the Church and each other. In God’s loving embrace, in the fold of the Church, and in the company of one another, we learn most truly that every moment, no matter how dark, is a moment in which to hope.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle