Home is Where Hope Resides: Are You Really at Home?

December 16, 2018

Greetings Family and Friends,
This week I was jarred once again by the media. This time it was video of an elderly African American woman being snatched from her vehicle and literally “man-handled” by police to be followed by an unjust arrest and all the malicious behavior and actions that our nation has sought to normalize against people of color.

Over the past decade there has been a resurgence of overt racism. This resurgence coincides with the two-term leadership of the nation’s first African American, highly progressive President followed by an egomaniac President driven by hate and bigotry. It seems that a fear of loss of power or of control unsurfaced a legacy of hate that can no longer be contained. I recently studied the books of Jeremiah and Hebrews and was moved to ask how the present moment can be explored so as to promote the drive amongst African Americans to not only survive but to thrive versus adopting a spirit of demise in light of such deep and persistent oppression. It is a question of the relevancy and value of hope for a people living in exile, a people longing for home. The opposite of hope is despair. One in despair experiences misery, anguish, desolation, gloom and depression. This Spiritual Life Note is adapted from an extensive paper I wrote titled “Seeking Home.” It offers a spiritual response to the resurgence of overt racism in our nation and suggests that home is more than just a dwelling place, or even a place having familial ties. Rather home is referred to as a state of mind that lacks despair. Home is where hope resides. While there is no room for the details here I would welcome the opportunity to share the full paper with you upon your request. Here is what I concluded and the message for this week.

For more than five hundred years, African Americans have experienced massive human injustices essentially living as if in exile. There are several moments in the book of Jeremiah that point towards the fact that God has hope for a people in exile. Without hope people have no reason to live. The consoling message of hope was not just for the exiles, but specifically for the faithful exiles. In each of these moments we gain a common insight of the importance of obedience, faithfulness and trust in God, particularly in times or suffering and uncertainty.

A close relative has recently been diagnosed with a couple of mental and physical challenges that often result in sadness and anxiety. When these circumstances become prolonged or magnified, this relative frequently states that he wants to go home. Although physically in their house and surrounded their family, they want to “go home.” Upon inquiry, they express what I would describe as a desire to be freed from their current state of being in exchange for joy and vitality. I offer that such a process of transformation requires at least an intermediary measure of hope.

In these times of interfaith and interreligious dialogue, I am speaking to my Christian orientation that necessarily beckons the inclusion of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and thus the Biblical New Testament, in developing such a spiritual response. A look at the anonymously written letter of exhortation to the Hebrews provides excellently for that inclusion. Hebrews urges the faithful, confident follower of Christ to live as he did, faithful, hopeful, loving, and patient in the face of persecution. Our Christian lens knows that God will never leave us, nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) These promises mean that if and when bad things happen to us, we can count on God’s presence as we face all that life places before us. In the midst of terrible, even horrific circumstances, God is with us, saving us in ways we may not be able to comprehend. We must believe what God says. We must rely on the words of Jesus when he says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) In both Jeremiah and Hebrews, and in America today the major force causing dissention amongst the peoples and the inability to discern the will of God was and is the fear of losing power.

Family and friends take heart in this season of Advent. In this season of hope, let us seek and find home!
Rev. Ineda P. Adesanya