To Share Our Hope
Hello, World!
To Share Our Hope
1 Peter 3:13-22
Eastertide 2023
Join me in reading Today’s Scripture passage from First Peter Chapter Three, Verses thirteen through twenty-two.
Scripture:
13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
The Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God.
Prayer: Let’s pray: God of our stories, grant us the gentleness and reverence to account for the hope that is found in you. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you? Amen.
Years ago, during a quintessential Americana moment in central Florida, there was a community gathering around one of those familial sacred collective spaces, a baseball field. The smell of clay and grass hit the air, and nostalgia from the bright shining lights of nighttime games runs through my memory. That night, I had just finished playing and was waiting for my sister’s softball game to end. My teammates and I were running around in the high of a win. We were in that area between fields. At that time in my life, the church I was involved with was doing a 40-day challenge; one of the challenges was to witness to someone in our community. Of course, while at the ballfield, there was a group of us running around, and I had the chance to share my faith with someone, and I did not heed Peter’s use of gentleness. Instead, I was a bible thumbing little 12-year-old kid. Who talked about sin and forgiveness, but when the young person I was witnessing to started quoting scripture back to me, using chapter and verse references. I knew I was out of my league.
How many times have we done this? We get excited to share our faith, to tell this life-transformational story, and then boom; we find ourselves feeling inadequate, out of our depths, unprepared.
Peter realized this in the church's earliest suffering for doing good and being righteous: they were persecuted. Quiet possibly, one commentator suggests, they became reclusive and retreated from persecution for their counter-cultural way of living.
However, Peter voices hope, saying you are blessed in your doing right. Peter echoed the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10 NRSV).
There were five churches Peter wrote to; he calls them the exiles. Again, another literary echo to the past, of when God’s chosen people were known as exiles, and when they dispersed and separated from the main group, they were a part of the diaspora, of those gone from home but still were God’s chosen people. Through this epistle, this letter, Peter hopes to connect these non-Jewish first churches fully to God’s family.
Earlier in the letter, Peter gives instructions on doing good and what that means. He inspires the churches to live in holiness, a pursuit of God and right living. He said in chapter one, verses 13 through 16, for them to set their hopes on the grace that Jesus Christ revealed to them and not to be conformed by the desires they had in their ignorance of Grace. Instead, they are instructed to be holy.
Do good. Do not fear. And be Holy like God, or as Peter said, be sanctified.
John Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, said from the moment we accept God’s grace, “...there may be a gradual sanctification, a growing in grace, a daily advance in the knowledge and love of God” (The Works of the Rev. John Wesley VIII, 329). And in that growing, we need to prepare our stories. What’s yours?
How did the grace of God find you? Or the better question, How did you find the grace of God that was already surrounding you? Was it an abrupt moment, like the conversion of Paul? Did you feel God pulling on your heartstrings? Did he call out to you like he did when he asked the tax collector Matthew to follow him?
Have you always been in church and marveled at the grace taught to you your entire life? Is this an old relationship or a new one? How has this hope transformed your life?
How do you pursue holiness? Have you joined the collective church from its origin through baptism? A sacred symbol showing that we are surrounded by God’s love and grace, and mercy found in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
Peter says if suffering should be the will of God through our doing good, then it’s worth it. We are reminded that, likewise, Jesus suffered. Not only did he suffer for those who have accepted God’s grace, but also for those who persecuted him, the righteous and unrighteous alike.
Let that sink in.
Often, I think, we forget that. I tend to forget it when I’m driving. Grace for others goes out the window when the person in front of me turns too slowly or, heaven forbid, they don’t put on their turn signal or accidentally turn in the opposite direction. Yet, Christ still suffered for them.
I know for some of you, there are people who have done real wrongs, and for that, I am sorry. It’s not an easy ask, but who in your life could use a little more grace? Who could be reminded gently and with reverence that God, our creator, still loves them, even though it sometimes is hard for us to love them back? Sometimes, it’s not even in our telling of the story but in our living into God’s divine mercy that we share Christ’s grace.
Grace is for us all. Be encouraged if you suffer for doing good. Share your stories and do right so you can testify to the grace that grows in you from your creator redeemer.
Recently I was part of a class called Rhythms for Life. We went through a book by an Anglican pastor named Alistair Sterne. In the book, he discusses creating a pattern for your life that resembles breathing – Up, In, With, and Out, Upward with God, Inward to Self, Withward in Community, and Outward in Mission. When focusing on living outward in mission, Sterne said, “There are innumerable ways we move outward that do not involve explicit evangelism, such as meeting the needs of the poor, foster parenting children, mentoring youth, or caring for creation. We just do those things with the wisdom of the apostle Peter in mind… (Rhythms for Life, 175)” Be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks for the reason for your hope. God has moved toward us and all creation with love. We get to extend this movement toward others. It’s that simple, Sterne said.
A favorite quote of mine, attributed to St. Francis of Assis, said: “Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” So how does one plan and prepare to share their hope if anyone asks?
Across the world, in Israel’s capital city Jerusalem, next to one of its busiest roads, sits a Hasidic school, three stories tall. It is home to devout Jews, who adhere to strict rules and traditions. Occasionally, this school allows Christians to come and help with service projects for the school. On one condition, no preaching to their students about Jesus.
Instead of sharing stories about Jesus, volunteers, happily and without thought of preaching or giving an adequate story of their hope, put on gardening gloves, pick up rakes, and share the love they’ve been given and the hope they’ve received by doing good.
We are called to remain open to all people God has entrusted us to love, from the righteous to the unrighteous.
We are called to love, to love our neighbors as ourselves. To Love Grace, who is rushed and tired. To love Dave, who works in finance and is eager to be your friend. Charlie, who is a little intimidating. To love Jill and her gaggle of children.
We are called to love people. Not only the faces and names we know but also the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the person in need, and even the enemy, the persecutor, are people with names and stories worthy of love.
So, If no one asks, or as our reading said, “demands” your story, how can you still share your hope? Who are you called to love? Today, I want you to take away three practices to help convey your hope – hospitality, generous service, and faith at work.
Ethicist Christine Pohl says, “Christian hospitality reflects divine hospitality… In offering hospitality, practitioners live between the vision of God’s kingdom in which there is enough, even abundance, and the hard realities of human life in which doors are closed and locked, and some needy people are turned away or left outside.” Hospitality can be as easy as giving someone a cuppa tea or an ear for them to be heard. So how can you be hospitable this week?
Jesus, as the divine servant, washed his disciples' feet; generous service is a way to connect with others. In serving, we walk in the ways of Jesus and demonstrate his nature. Sterne said we “move with him, we join him on a downward descent into service” (181). As United Methodists, we are called in our membership vows to faithfully participate in church ministries by “our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness” (The United Methodist Hymnal, 43). Serving your local church is essential; however, you can also apply your vows to your neighborhood. How can you help your community with your prayers? With your gifts? As we meet the needs of others, we provide a glimpse of the hope that’s been given to us.
The last practice I want you to consider this week is faith in the workplace. How can you express hospitality and service in your workspace? Sharing your hope doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be that bible-thumping 12-year-old. It can be an encouraging word or purchasing lunch and feeding your staff; it can be going out of your way to open a door; it can be turning off the lights at the end of the day. It can be a call to check in on someone who is sick and not to find out if they are really ill, but to be genuinely concerned and supportive.
Dan was a career coal miner who shifted in his late 30s to become a youth pastor, but after moments of church hurt, he felt that he could better serve the next generations as a teacher. So in his mid-40s, he transitioned to become a science teacher. For the next two decades, he has made a lasting impact on countless students. Each year, Dan posts to his social media page, requesting his student update him on where they are at in their lives. They are directors or industry, graphic designers, some are stay-at-home moms or dads, others are professional athletes, but many are in fields of science, nurses, and doctors; some work in education, and some work for Nasa. His former students comment each year, saying it was not the curriculum that helped make them into who they are; it was the discipline, advice, and hope Dan breathed into their lives that made a difference.
How are you sharing your story?
Let’s Pray:
God of our stories. Help us to prepare. Help us to be ready for the moment someone asks about our hope. But, until that moment comes, may we be your faithful servants, caring for our neighbors. Feeding the hungry, giving water to those who are thirsty, and clothing the naked. May we remember our baptism and our new life in you. May we go from this place today and do good. Amen.