Chalice Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Promoting Religious Freedom, Spiritual Growth, and Ethical Action
 
Home / Sermons / Hope Springs Eternal /  

Hope Springs Eternal

Northwest UU Congregation
The Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins
April 24, 2011
Introduction
The central message of Easter and of spring is a message of hope:
 
·         I believe in hope because nature teaches us that spring comes every year to give us hope in the midst of winter. 
·         I believe in hope because I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of the human personality.
·         I believe in hope because I believe there is divinity in every living thing.
·         I believe in hope because we humans have the capacity to love, act and improve the human condition.
I confess today, I love spring:  the re-emergence of color, especially green, the sounds of birds in the early morning, the reminder of hope even when life is fragile and delicate.  It is not coincidental that Easter and spring come at almost the same time.  Easter for me is synonymous with the celebration of spring.  These two concepts are brought together in a poem by May Sarton titled, “Easter Morning.”  It goes like this:
            The extreme delicacy of this Easter morning 
            Spoke to me as a prayer and as a warning.
            It was light on the brink, spring light
            After a rain that gentled my dark night.
            I walked through landscapes I had never seen
            Where the fresh grass had just begun to green,
            And its roots, watered deep, sprung to my tread;
            The maples wore a cloud of feathery red,
            But flowering trees still showed their clear design
            Against the pale blue brightness chilled like wine.
            And I was praying all the time I walked,
            While starlings flew about, and talked, and talked.
            Somewhere and everywhere life spoke the word.
            The dead trees woke; each bush held its bird.
            I prayed for delicate love and difficult,
            That all be gentle now and know no fault,
            That all be patient—as a wild rabbit fled
            Sudden before me.  Dear love, I would have said
            (And to each bird who flew up from the wood),
            I would be gentler still if that I could,
            For on this Easter morning it would seem
            The softest footfall danger is, extreme. . .
            And so I prayed to be less than the grass
            And yet to feel the Presence that might pass.
            I made a prayer.  I heard the answer, “Wait,
            When all is so in peril, so delicate!”
                                                                                                          
May Sarton is a person knew the feeling of sadness.  She expresses in this poem her joy with the return of spring.  May Sarton writes, “Wait, when all is so in peril, delicate!”  She found peace in nature, in wild rabbits, fresh grass, gentle rain, the sound of birds, the Eternal presence that nature brings.
I experienced this feeling last week at the dentist office.  There I was waiting for my teeth to be cleaned, a little nervous, when a small bird lands on the bush outside the window.  I took a deep breath, and felt the peace of nature.  
Second, our Unitarian and Universalist heritages encourage us to believe in the goodness of every human personality, the worth and dignity of every person.  Whenever our faith in the goodness of human nature is challenged, we need a new message of hope.
Humans all are we—fools who do not see divinity when it is in front of us.  We don’t trust ourselves and we don’t trust others.  Alexander Pope writes that even with all of these shortcomings:  “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” (“An Essay on Man”, l. 95)  My sermon today is meant to encourage each of you to believe in spring, and hope, and joy even though reason and doubt may tell you otherwise.  
I remember the worst service I ever designed.  It was probably the worst service every designed by anyone.  It was written in the midst of the gas shortage of the ‘70’s, when people were lining up at the pumps to buy what gas there was.  I chose to plan a service before Christmas that year designed to explain the gas shortage.  I wanted people to know why they had to wait in line for gas.  I wanted them to understand the dilemma we had created for ourselves.  It was a great idea.  The timing was horrible.  I think you all know why gas prices have risen.  I don’t need to tell you why.
I come to encourage you to welcome spring, to feel hope, and to feel joy in your life.  Herman Melville once wrote:  "If we bend down our eyes, the dark vale shows her mouldy soil; but we if we lift them, the bright sun meets our glance halfway to cheer."  My desire is to celebrate human potential, to lift the dark vale of life, to meet the glance of the bright sun and to cheer.
Meanings of Hope
We often think of hope as a sort of magical dream that will occur at some future time by outside intervention. In this hope the present is considered futile and insignificant. Oftentimes hope is a form of dreaming and has no foundation in reality.  George Herbert wrote in the 17th century that “Hope is the poor man’s bread” (Jacula Prudentum, 1651).
The Unitarian Universalist hope is different from magic and dreams. Hope can he grounded in fact, in the experiences of our past and our knowledge about the possibilities of the future.  Ambrose Bierce wrote, "Hope is desire and expectation rolled into one."
The Eastern religions given us a concept of hope based on the unity of the divine within nature.  Tagore expresses this philosophy:  “Within us we have a hope which always walks in front of our present narrow experience; it is the undying faith in the infinite in us.”
            For Christians hope is the belief in the presence of Jesus after his death.  That is the hope of Easter--that Jesus will continue to be present among his followers.  For most Christians, including many Unitarian Universalists, this is a spiritual presence, not a physical presence.
            Unitarian Universalist hope can also include a belief in the presence of a person in memory after their death.  I promote this in every memorial service I conduct.  Our hope also lies in our potential to make the future what we wish it to be.  Hope is present not future.  It is not a dream.  Hope is grounded in action.  If we cannot act, we cannot choose.  We have no hope.  Norman Cousins wrote:
The question is not whether humans beings are prepared to do these things.  The question is whether you, the individual, are prepared to do it. You have the gift of free will. You can make choices.  So long as the ability to choose can be matched with options of consequence, there are strong grounds for hope.  There is hope that enough individuals will use their free will to make the life-giving and life‑sustaining choices." (p.69)
Hope must be grounded in our ability to know and to act or it is magical hope.
Hope in Community
            I believe in hope because I believe in humans who come together to act for good, we can be a part of a community.  This is an important part of the Unitarian Universalist mind‑set. By joining this movement we wish to be a part of something larger than ourselves.  We gather together for some common purpose.  We can celebrate our lives—our hopes and dreams.  We can discuss the problems of the world.  We can share our personal concerns, our failures, our disappointments, our most inward emotions.  All of this occurs because we are part of a community.  We join together in hope expressed through words, music, and acts of love.
You do not have to be a member of a church to be religious. You do not have to have your name on a membership list in order to be an ethical person. But as Unitarian Universalist we join because we are affirming that this community gives us some hope.  It provides us an opportunity to act.  It gives us a chance to meet other people that go can enjoy, love, be with, care for, and share our lives.
Conclusion
            Unitarian Universalism is a religion that has a positive  view of life. It is a religion that gives us hope‑‑in this world and in our lives. It tells us that we can make a difference.  We are unique but we are part of a community.  Hope is the ability to know, to choose to act.  It is looking forward to accomplishing those things we so desire as long as we choose to live. Hope is existing in a community of caring people.
            Goethe has said:  “It would appear that our nature is not, for any length of time, capable of perfect resignation.  Hope will make its own way into the mind, and with hope activity, and with activity, the realization of hope.”  Yes, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”  Hope overcomes anxiety.  Hope leads to action.  Action leads to satisfaction and more hope—another of those circles of life.
            I began this sermon with May Sarton talking about how delicate life is.  Sarton also talked about the bird as one example of this delicacy.  I will conclude with the words of Emily Dickinson who uses the same metaphor:
            Hope is the thing with feathers
            That perches in the soul
            And sings the tune without the words,
            And never stops at all
            And sweetest in the gale is heard.  (“Poems”, 1830-86)
May we all look around us this spring, and see and hear the birds, and find the tune that may sing in our heart when we most need it, when senseless murder surrounds us, and war does not cease.
            May we welcome spring.  May we have hope.  Look up not down.  Look to the best, not the worst.  Look forward, not backward.  This is the message of spring.  The birds have returned.  The sound of cheer is in the air.  Life returns when once it was barren. The leaves, flowers and buds are for all to see.  Welcome spring.  Hope springs eternal.  Amen and Blessed Be.
  Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation
1025 Mt. Vernon Highway, N.W., Sandy Springs Atlanta, GA 30327
770-955-1408 - officenwuuc.org – fax: 770-955-4246		  
  A Member Congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association e