Hope.

A word sought for, fought for, died for, yet not clearly understood.

Hope.

Barack Obama used it during his first campaign. Who was he hope for? Because see, me and all my friends didn’t see hope. We saw hopelessness, despair, and brokenness. Too bad we didn’t realize we were looking at a mirror.

Hope.

Black brothers and sisters all around seemed to see it but I didn’t–or maybe I couldn’t. I thought they were just blind.

You see, issues like abortion and big government were on my mind. How could someone who loved Jesus not care about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Yet, I was so worried about pro-life that I didn’t see those just living around me. I was so worried about freedom that I didn’t see the systems of bondage I perpetuated. I was so worried about the American dream that I couldn’t see it was covered with blood, tears.

Hope.

My view of morality was so high that I cried abstinence without even realizing I was abstaining from loving my neighbor. My view of myself was so twisted I only saw the sliver in others’ eyes and not the log in mine. My view of the world was so broken, I was stuck on playing the wrong tune when I really needed to switch from A minor to C major.

Hope.

Jesus doesn’t need us to create more mouths to feed – he wants us to feed his sheep. Jesus doesn’t need us to be more free – he wants us to feed his sheep. Jesus doesn’t need us to feed ourselves – he wants us to feed his sheep. Jesus doesn’t even need us.
Yet he came to give us a radical vision about his Kingdom.

Don’t you see?
Hope.