What Are You Hoping For?

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  February 4, 2024

Click here to listen to the service

Read Isaiah 40:21 – 31
 
Today is the day that has been designated as Scout Sunday.  We have actually not hosted a Scout Sunday since before the pandemic that turned our lives and the world upside down… but it is wonderful that we are able to pause today and join in recognizing the Scouts in Troop 193 and the Cub Scouts in Pack 3193. 
 
And one thing that I am hoping for today is that we can make this an annual event… that we can commit to finding ways for the Church and the Scouts to come together on a regular basis.
 
In preparing for today’s service, I took a peek at the Scouts’ website.  The landing page has an image of a group of scouts white water rafting with the words “SCOUTING IS” overhead… followed by three word bubbles that declare:
 
An adventure of a lifetime / Family fun / Preparing for your future
 
Looking further down the page, there is the Scout motto that we have probably all heard many times before: BE PREPARED.
 
And then scrolling just a little further… there is a section that is headed with a trademarked statement, “PREPARED. FOR LIFE.” …followed by the description, “Scouting teaches youth to confront any challenge with whole hearts and clear minds—to live their lives without regret, never back down, and do their very best!”  (Boy Scouts of America | Prepared. For Life.™ (scouting.org))
 
Simply put… Scouting is all about preparing for the future… being prepared for life… and isn’t that something we all should be hoping for?  That we would be prepared for life?  Able to live our lives without regret… to never back down… and to do our very best?
 
Now, when I looked at the Lectionary texts for this week, I was drawn to this passage from Isaiah 40.  It is a passage that I believe has relevance for any of us at any given time… but on this Scout Sunday against the backdrop of hoping we are prepared for life…  I want to invite our attention to the text… keeping the question in mind… WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR?
 
Perhaps you can relate to the phenomenon that occurs, particularly in our younger years… when there is a tendency to continually look to the future… hoping to get just a little bit older so we can do the things associated with that next stage of life…
 
When we were in elementary school we couldn’t wait to get to high school… hoping to have more freedom… once we got to high school we couldn’t wait to turn 16… hoping we would get a driver’s license and maybe a new car… then we couldn’t wait to graduate and turn 18… hoping we would be able to go to college or just get out on our own… after we turned 18 and got to college or got on our own… we started hoping for that great job when we would start making serious money and have that dream life that we had been waiting and hoping for…
 
But when we get older and after we have hit some, if not all of, those milestones… we just may come to accept the reality that when we spend so much time hoping for what is yet to come… we run the risk of missing out on the gift of life that is right here in front of us.
 
And that brings us back to the question that calls for our consideration this morning… WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR?
 
The worldly perspective would have us always hoping and looking for something more than what God has already given us.  Society tries to sell us on the notion that we ought to have fancier clothes… faster cars… grander houses… bigger bank accounts… newer gadgets and higher-speed devices. 
 
And this can be a very interesting question for believers to ask ourselves… WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR?
 
Let’s just say for the sake of argument, that we are not like those people who are so highly enamored with the things of this world… our answer to the question WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR? might focus on more altruistic ideals…
 
We might find ourselves hoping for world peace… hoping for an end to hunger and homelessness… or simply hoping for a return to civility and common decency.
 
Or we might find ourselves hoping for something that hits closer to home… hoping for a loved one’s healing… hoping for comfort and strength in the face of grief and loss… merely hoping for a better day today than yesterday.
 
But what if we don’t get whatever it is we have been hoping for… what if the circumstances around us look bleak at best… and what if we find ourselves giving into feelings of discontentment and dissatisfaction… getting weary from praying and asking God for the same thing over and over again and not getting the answers we want…
 
Let me suggest that our text for the morning speaks directly to those moments when we feel lost and in despair.  Listen again to verses 27 – 31 of our text as they are found in the Message Paraphrase:

 Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me.  He doesn’t care what happens to me”?  Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.      He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.  He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.  And he knows everything, inside and out.  He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.  For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.  But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.  They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.

But those who wait upon God… those who hope in the Lord… they are the ones who will rise above the fray… they are the ones who will be able to keep going like the Energizer bunny… they are the ones who will be able to stay the course… in short, they are the ones who will BE PREPARED. FOR LIFE.
 
So, perhaps we would do better to reframe our question from WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR to WHO ARE YOU HOPING FOR...
 
And in a word, that WHO ought to be Jesus.
 
He is the One that we should be hoping for… trusting that they day will come when He will return for us… like a Bridegroom coming for His bride.
 
And we would do well to be prepared for whenever that day comes.
 
As Jesus told His disciples:

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  (Matthew 24:36, 42 – 44).

And while we do not know exactly when Jesus is coming back… we have the hope and the assurance that He is coming back… which gives us all the more reason to be prepared.
 
Now, according to Scouting history, General Robert Baden-Powell, the man credited with starting the Scout movement in England and establishing the Scout Motto, was supposedly asked the question, “Be prepared for what?”  To which he is said to have responded, “Why, for any old thing.” 
 
Later he was said to have written that to Be Prepared means “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.”  (Source: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/05/08/be-prepared-scout-motto-origin/)
 
Now, as Christians, we should always be in a state of readiness in mind, body, and spirit… preparing ourselves for whenever the day arrives that Jesus does return for us…
 
As we read in Luke 12 (37 – 38):

The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat!  He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.
And it ought to fill us with a sense of hope to know that the day is coming when Jesus will return… that even in the face of so much chaos and confusion happening in the world around us… we do not have to feel hopeless.

We can place our hope in Jesus… the One who gave His life in exchange for ours… the One who makes it possible for us to stand on a firm foundation… and the One who offers us the assurance that better days are coming.
 
So, I leave you with the question… WHO AND WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR? 
 
Do you want to know what I am hoping for?  I am hoping that you will stand now and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: My Hope Is Built #537.
 

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