Another year comes to an end, and everyone (or almost everyone) says, “2023 was not a good year. Maybe 2024 will be better.” If there are not some days when you feel despair about the state of the world, you just aren’t paying attention. But if you don’t also have days where your hope for the future makes you see all kinds of amazing possibilities, then you aren’t really alive. Should we be optimists, looking for a brighter future that is just out of sight, or should we be pessimists who see the darkness of greed and violence and weep? I say, “Neither.” There is another option, what I would call a more realistic option. As Gordon MacDonald once said, “As Christians, we should not be optimists or pessimists. We should be hopeful.”
Saint Paul tells us, “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:5-6). Hope is not optimism. Hope is not a vague belief that somehow “things will get better.” Hope is not pessimism, the belief that nothing can ever really get better. Hope is trust that Someone – Christ – will someday “make all things new.” Hope, unlike optimism, recognizes that things really are broken beyond our ability to repair them on our own. Hope, unlike pessimism, also recognizes that we are not alone, and the God who loved us enough to be born and die for us also has the power to complete his work of resurrection.
Hope is the attitude expressed in the Stockdale Paradox: “Have unwavering faith that you will prevail in the end, but always confront the brutal facts.” The explicitly Christian version might be expressed as “Have faith that God will prevail in the end, that you will be delivered by the Father who loves you, but never ignore the brutal facts of how bad the situation really is.” The Stockdale Paradox is named after Rear Admiral James Stockdale, the highest-ranking U.S. officer to be held in the “Hanoi Hilton” prison during the Vietnam War. Stockdale managed to survive eight years of brutal torture by not succumbing to optimism or pessimism. When asked by author Jim Collins, “Who didn’t make it?” He answered, “That’s easy. The optimists.” He went on to explain that the optimists always thought that they were just about to be released, but when release didn’t come, they were crushed. Stockdale didn’t say it explicitly, but I’d say the pessimists didn’t make it, either. There were people who, sadly, gave up the idea of ever being released, and they were crushed as well. The ones who did make it lived in hope.
In a world with challenges ranging from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to obnoxious drivers who won’t let you merge when you’re trying to get into Harford for an important early morning meeting, it’s easy to throw up your hands and say, “It’s all wrong.” Then you see an incredible act of selflessness such as Adel Termos, a man in Beirut, throwing himself on top of a suicide bomber, losing his own life but saving many other lives (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/11/16/the fearless-father-who-threwhimself-on-a-suicide-bomber-saving hundreds-of-lives-in-beirut/). Or you see someone stop and help a person pick up the groceries that just spilled out of a broken bag in the parking lot. Suddenly, the world seems like a much, much better place.
We need to walk through this world with our eyes really open, not just so that we can see what’s wrong, but also — even more importantly — so that we can see what’s right. It’s also important that we close our eyes and pray for a future that God will bring when everything will be right.
Stockdale said that one of the most important books for him was the Book of Job. As you know, Job’s story involved a lot of struggle, but, by the grace of God, it did turn out right in the end. Hope means trusting that God will, eventually, remove all the evil and suffering in this broken world. Until then, it’s up to us to do the work of hope alongside him. Every person we help feed, every person who finds a home, every child who is comforted with a quilt, every refugee who is encouraged by our prayers – every person matters. The things we do make a difference. This isn’t optimism (we’ll fix it all) or pessimism (what’s the use – no one can fix it). It is hope. We can trust God and even experience joy as we get to work alongside the God of the universe who is “making all things new” – even us. If we believe that, there really will be some changes. 2023 did have many tragedies. It also had some bright spots. I hope 2024 will be better. Let’s do what we can to make it better.