I felt really tender when I went to church last night. "Tender" in my parlance usually means that I'm going to cry about the trials and tribulations of fictional characters that I love and appreciate. I'm just really into stories, and I find that the stories I really enjoy are the ones that help me put words to my feelings and experiences.
I had it in my head: "We're just here to be memories for our children." That's the sort of climactic line in the beginning part of Interstellar that really resonates with me emotionally. I was thinking of my father, and that most of what I really have from him is a memory of who he was.
I suppose that if you are about to make the fitting sacrifice of the new covenant in Jesus, thinking about your dear departed loved ones is proper and good. As I continued to sit there, I realized that I am deeply drawn to all stories of love, reconciliation, and harmony. I think many people in the business of telling stories think they should be "gritty," but I think much of the time, real people want to be realistic but also hopeful. "Gritty" too often means "nihilistic."
I think hope pushes me toward the things I know to be true by faith. Hope is that motive, that power, that keeps us from total despair. A certain spiritual despair is the opposite of hope.
To my mind, it shouldn't be surprising that hope and love are linked, because in some sense to desire supernatural love is to possess it. The goodness of God ordinarily does not allow for a thwarted hope, at least not permanently. If hope allows us to desire God, then love is actually the shared experience of that desire and communion. That's why "the greatest is love." Communion with God is the greatest good in a world created in and for goodness.
I'm sure you've noticed that the world does not seem to be as good as I suggest, but to sorrow for the world, to hope for better, in its own way proves that we are meant to have the greatest goodness. If we suffer, we know that in the very act of lamenting that suffering is an act of affirmation of God's goodness.
The Cross not only dealt with the evil of humanity, it reflected that evil. Our folly and sin struck down the innocent One. And yet, he went there willingly. Jesus says by his very act of sacrifice that our wickedness can still not compare to His mercy. That's why the Cross overflows with hope, as well as forgiveness. As long as we can hear Jesus saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," we can have hope. Shame and guilt cannot be the final word, when Jesus still speaks His word of mercy. Every part of us that resonates with themes of love and acceptance is actually responding to the love displayed on the Cross.
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