WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.640 Hi, this is Compass Finding Spirituality in the Everyday. My name is 2 00:00:05.640 --> 00:00:09.200 Ryan Dunn. Today we're talking about hope, 3 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:12.320 but not the fluffy, unrealistic kind. 4 00:00:13.120 --> 00:00:16.720 We're talking about a hope that has mud on its boots. 5 00:00:16.720 --> 00:00:20.240 It's the kind of hope that shows up even when the sky is falling. 6 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:24.200 We're gonna cultivate or rekindle some personal hope in this 7 00:00:24.200 --> 00:00:27.790 episode, and we're gonna do that while admitting that everything 8 00:00:28.110 --> 00:00:31.710 is not okay right now. More on that in a little 9 00:00:31.710 --> 00:00:35.550 bit. I'm a reverend, but I don't spend much 10 00:00:35.550 --> 00:00:39.270 time in a pulpit. In fact, I deliver like one or two sermons a 11 00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:42.950 year. And one reason for that is out of a sense of 12 00:00:42.950 --> 00:00:46.630 personal calling. I just don't feel a real strong pull to 13 00:00:46.630 --> 00:00:50.390 deliver sermons every week. But also, I have to admit that in 14 00:00:50.390 --> 00:00:53.990 my religious tradition, my voice, and that's the voice of a middle aged, 15 00:00:53.990 --> 00:00:57.680 straight, cisgendered white guy, is pretty well represented. 16 00:00:57.760 --> 00:01:01.400 I appreciate hearing the voices of those who offer a 17 00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:05.080 different perspective. Now, I say this to acknowledge that, yes, 18 00:01:05.080 --> 00:01:08.880 maybe. Well, this podcast becomes my pulpit 19 00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:12.240 from time to time because, you know, I'm not in that church pulpit much. 20 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.320 And this episode represents one of those instances when 21 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:20.120 I might get a little bit preachy. For example, we're starting 22 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:23.780 here with a scripture reading. This is Romans, 23 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:28.660 chapter five, verses three through five. And this is the Apostle 24 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:32.420 Paul talking to the church in Rome. It's way back in the first century. It's 25 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:36.220 a time when the church is being persecuted. That's the audience that Paul is 26 00:01:36.220 --> 00:01:40.020 addressing when he says this. We also boast in our 27 00:01:40.020 --> 00:01:43.380 afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 28 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:47.420 and endurance produces character, and character produces 29 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:51.270 hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's 30 00:01:51.270 --> 00:01:54.590 love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given 31 00:01:54.590 --> 00:01:58.190 to us. That's the end of the scripture there. Right 32 00:01:58.190 --> 00:02:01.230 now, it's hard not to feel 33 00:02:01.310 --> 00:02:05.110 overwhelmed. As I'm recording this, there are devastating 34 00:02:05.110 --> 00:02:08.710 floods in Texas. Friends and neighbors on the east coast and 35 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:12.350 upper Midwest are facing more severe weather. And 36 00:02:12.350 --> 00:02:16.190 let's be real, many of us are weary from watching political 37 00:02:16.430 --> 00:02:19.920 priorities unfold in ways that feel really 38 00:02:19.920 --> 00:02:23.560 cruel or disconnected from our values of compassion 39 00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:27.560 and justice. Hearing about people celebrating detention camps 40 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:31.280 and deportations is repulsive. Certain budgetary 41 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:34.799 decisions that we see being made by the US Government have us 42 00:02:34.799 --> 00:02:38.360 worried about the safety of all people. And then there are always the 43 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:42.040 wars that are hovering in the back of our minds. I 44 00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:45.790 just completed a road trip across a good part of the Midwest, and 45 00:02:45.790 --> 00:02:49.550 in traveling around and Talking with people that I just don't get to talk with 46 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:52.870 every day. I noticed that a lot of people are feeling wearied. 47 00:02:53.190 --> 00:02:56.870 It's almost a form of, like, analysis paralysis. 48 00:02:57.110 --> 00:03:00.550 There's so much to feel upset about, saddened or 49 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:04.190 outraged about that people don't know where to go 50 00:03:04.190 --> 00:03:07.710 with all of it and are just left feeling numb. And 51 00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:11.470 sometimes that appears as apathy, although I think more often it's a form 52 00:03:11.470 --> 00:03:15.080 of self protection or self care. Now, if you're 53 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.560 feeling disheartened or anxious, angry, 54 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.600 it's clear you're not alone. And if you're 55 00:03:22.600 --> 00:03:26.080 spiritually curious or trying to piece together your connection to the divine, 56 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.639 this kind of moment can really make you wonder. It 57 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:33.440 inspires some deep questions of theology and faith, like, where 58 00:03:33.760 --> 00:03:37.600 is God in all of this? Or even what good 59 00:03:37.600 --> 00:03:41.040 can I possibly do when everything feels like it's burning down? 60 00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:45.680 If we're supposed to be on this course towards a more heavenly world, 61 00:03:45.920 --> 00:03:49.720 or as Martin Luther King Jr. Put it, if the moral arc of 62 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:53.440 the universe is always bending towards justice, then 63 00:03:53.440 --> 00:03:56.800 why does it feel like we're going backwards on so many issues 64 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:01.040 of justice? What do we have to be hopeful 65 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.880 about? And this is the question I've wrestled with 66 00:04:04.880 --> 00:04:08.520 lately. What am I to do with when the load of outrage 67 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:12.240 and care feels so heavy that I just want to set it down for an 68 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:16.080 undetermined amount of time? How do I keep from giving up 69 00:04:16.080 --> 00:04:19.560 or giving in? I hate answering my own 70 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:23.000 questions, but the thing I have to say about this today is this. 71 00:04:23.880 --> 00:04:27.560 Hope is not optional. Nor 72 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:31.080 is hope escapism. And it's not toxic 73 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:34.680 positivity. You know, toxic positivity says everything 74 00:04:34.760 --> 00:04:38.520 happens for a reason. Or it says something like, we just need to think 75 00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:42.140 happy thoughts, or, well, there's always someone who has 76 00:04:42.140 --> 00:04:45.980 it worse. In faith, we may wrap this kind of toxic 77 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:49.740 positivity into statements like, well, God won't give you more than 78 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:53.300 you can handle, or a blanket statement like, you know, just 79 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:57.100 pray more and you'll worry less. Toxic positivity is 80 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:00.780 the kind of optimism that just skips over the pain and 81 00:05:00.780 --> 00:05:04.500 then leads towards feelings of shame for not feeling 82 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:08.280 pain. Okay, and here's the thing. This stuff might 83 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:11.960 sound spiritual, right? It might even come packaged in a Bible 84 00:05:11.960 --> 00:05:15.600 verse or a prayer. I believe, though, that if it's silencing 85 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.880 your grief or invalidating your anger, 86 00:05:19.200 --> 00:05:22.360 then it's not leading towards healing. It's just pushing 87 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:25.680 discomfort deeper down. I think I heard a particular 88 00:05:25.760 --> 00:05:29.040 sentiment expressed in some early episodes of this podcast. 89 00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:33.260 You can't heal what you refuse to feel. 90 00:05:33.820 --> 00:05:37.180 That really sounds like something our old friend Steve Austin would say. 91 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:41.300 One thing Steve definitely did tell us was that shame cannot 92 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:45.140 survive being named. And in the same way, we have to name the 93 00:05:45.140 --> 00:05:48.980 hurts in order to deal with them. Brian Tillman made a 94 00:05:48.980 --> 00:05:52.780 point of that in talking about racism and why we need to 95 00:05:52.780 --> 00:05:55.500 continually bring up points about racism. 96 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:59.680 You are allowed to name what hurts. 97 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.200 In fact, you're encouraged to name what hurts. 98 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:07.040 You are allowed to feel anxious. 99 00:06:07.520 --> 00:06:11.280 You are allowed to be angry at the injustice in the world, and 100 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:14.560 you're allowed to feel overwhelmed by it all. 101 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.400 Hope does not deny those feelings. In fact, 102 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.000 I'd say that real hope begins when we get honest about 103 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:25.760 the hurt. It's not a silver lining that we just 104 00:06:25.840 --> 00:06:29.600 slap on top of sadness or anger. Hope actually 105 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:33.360 is proactive. Hope is resistance. Hope says, this 106 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:37.120 is not okay. And still I believe in 107 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.840 something better. As I'm recording this, we've just gone through a strange July 108 00:06:40.840 --> 00:06:44.480 4th season in the United States. And I say it's strange because 109 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:48.120 I heard a number of people express discomfort in celebrating 110 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:51.840 patriotism when it feels like that ideology has 111 00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:54.800 been hijacked to represent a skewed sense of 112 00:06:55.190 --> 00:06:59.030 nationalism or exceptionalism. Hope suggests that 113 00:06:59.030 --> 00:07:02.710 we can celebrate the goodness of what may still be. 114 00:07:03.030 --> 00:07:06.830 Hope says, the flood waters may rise, but I will 115 00:07:06.830 --> 00:07:10.630 keep building. Hope says, I will not let cruelty 116 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:14.790 or despair write the final word. And that's why I believe 117 00:07:14.790 --> 00:07:18.150 that hope is not optional. It's a form of spiritual 118 00:07:18.150 --> 00:07:21.990 defiance that helps push the world towards what many of us believe 119 00:07:21.990 --> 00:07:25.000 God intends for it. Hope is a kind of sacred 120 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:28.840 rebellion against giving up. And in that way, 121 00:07:28.840 --> 00:07:32.560 in a world like ours, hope is one of the most radical things 122 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:36.040 that you can actually practice. Theologian Cornel west 123 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:39.920 once said, I cannot be an optimist, but I am a prisoner 124 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:43.640 of hope. In Scripture, we read things like Romans 125 00:07:43.640 --> 00:07:47.240 5, which, again, to note what that was earlier, 126 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:50.680 it says, suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, 127 00:07:50.840 --> 00:07:54.410 and. And character produces hope. I have a 128 00:07:54.410 --> 00:07:57.930 teenager at home, and I feel like I'm preaching this all the time. But 129 00:07:58.090 --> 00:08:01.930 the best sermons, we preach to ourselves. So I think, really, as 130 00:08:01.930 --> 00:08:05.770 I nag my teen about persevering through adversity, I'm 131 00:08:05.770 --> 00:08:09.570 really reminding myself of this reality. Hope shows 132 00:08:09.570 --> 00:08:13.370 up through the struggle, not around the struggle, not to the 133 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:17.050 side of the struggle. It shows up through the struggle. It is 134 00:08:17.210 --> 00:08:20.620 spiritual defiance in the face of despair. 135 00:08:21.100 --> 00:08:24.620 And it's a practice, something we do 136 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:28.060 and we cultivate even when we don't feel it yet. 137 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:32.460 In our last episode of compass I talked about Ignatian Examine, 138 00:08:32.700 --> 00:08:36.220 and I noted that it's a wonderful practice because it's really 139 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:40.020 adaptable. The point isn't to do it right through the step by 140 00:08:40.020 --> 00:08:43.460 step instructions. The point is to have an encounter with your 141 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:47.040 soulful spiritual side. It's to offer yourself a 142 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:50.760 moment to connect with God's presence and God's work in 143 00:08:50.760 --> 00:08:54.200 your own midst. Here's something that I've started doing when I feel 144 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:57.800 swallowed by the bad news of the world. Well, at first, 145 00:08:57.800 --> 00:09:01.639 actually, I just started with a simple reflection on gratitude. I had 146 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.200 a simple challenge for myself to name five things that I was grateful for in 147 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.960 the moment. But that wasn't aspirational enough to deal with 148 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:12.960 the big systemic hope stealers. So the following 149 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.720 has become an adapted practice which was in part based 150 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.440 off some Ignatian Examine Start with just 151 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.200 sitting down, maybe with a journal. More often just with my coffee. And 152 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:28.200 I do what I'm calling a Hope Inventory. Like Ignatian 153 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:31.520 Examine, it's consisting of five simple 154 00:09:31.520 --> 00:09:35.320 prompts. You can try them right now in your mind, or jot them down 155 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:39.040 and return to them later. Whatever. I'll put them on the episode 156 00:09:39.040 --> 00:09:42.820 page on umc.org too. Anyways, here's the 157 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:46.340 Hope Inventory. What's something small 158 00:09:46.660 --> 00:09:50.340 that made you smile today? A bird? A 159 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:54.140 meme? A bite of something good? Or your teenager 160 00:09:54.140 --> 00:09:57.700 telling you about why Star wars is so cool? Secondly, 161 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:01.740 who showed you kindness recently? Or who did 162 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:05.140 you show kindness to? Thirdly, 163 00:10:05.380 --> 00:10:09.210 where did you feel connected to yourself? Someone else, 164 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:13.130 or even God? Was it a walk? A 165 00:10:13.130 --> 00:10:16.490 hug? A breath? A prayer? 166 00:10:17.290 --> 00:10:20.970 What beauty have you noticed around you? That's number four. What 167 00:10:20.970 --> 00:10:24.530 beauty have you noticed around you? Is the sky 168 00:10:24.530 --> 00:10:28.330 inspiring you today? Did a small child laughing bring 169 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:32.130 laughter to you as well? Was there beauty in a song 170 00:10:32.130 --> 00:10:35.940 that you heard? Did you see an awesome album coming? And 171 00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:39.620 fifthly, what are you still hoping for? Even if it feels 172 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:43.340 far off, naming it gives it shape. So name 173 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:46.820 those things for which you hope. It's amazing 174 00:10:46.900 --> 00:10:50.740 what shows up when you start looking for that light. 175 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:54.460 Not because the darkness around it disappears, but more 176 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:58.100 because the light was actually there all along. And maybe we just forgot 177 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:01.720 to look for it in our national discourse. We We've lost 178 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:05.280 sight of the value of good stories. This is what I've noticed at least. 179 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:09.360 There are a lot of negative stories, stories of harm or 180 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.040 of breaking relationships for us to hark on. We're missing 181 00:11:13.040 --> 00:11:16.800 the stories that share what it looks like when the world 182 00:11:16.800 --> 00:11:20.320 is as we believe it should be. The stories of people really 183 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.920 stepping up in support of one another, or where 184 00:11:23.920 --> 00:11:27.720 radical inclusion and hospitality created something beautiful 185 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:31.000 people because it always does. A practice of hope 186 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.040 might help us see those stories again. If you're 187 00:11:35.040 --> 00:11:38.760 listening to this and you're feeling like you don't know how to hope anymore, 188 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.720 it's okay. You don't have to force it. But maybe just try the 189 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.200 inventory. Just name what it is. Or start more 190 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:49.800 simply name those three or five things that you can be grateful for 191 00:11:49.800 --> 00:11:53.320 today. And maybe, just maybe, hope will sneak in 192 00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:57.430 through the cracks. Here's what I hope May your 193 00:11:57.430 --> 00:12:01.230 soul be stronger than the headlines. May your spirit stay soft 194 00:12:01.230 --> 00:12:04.990 even when the world feels hard, and may you find, 195 00:12:04.990 --> 00:12:08.430 even now, small reasons to keep on showing up with love. 196 00:12:09.150 --> 00:12:12.830 If you'd like to try the Hope Inventory again again, I'll post 197 00:12:12.830 --> 00:12:16.190 those five questions in the show notes@umc.org 198 00:12:16.510 --> 00:12:20.280 Compass thank you for walking by with me today. If 199 00:12:20.280 --> 00:12:23.840 this episode meant something to you, would you take a second to 200 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:27.520 rate or review Compass? It really helps others find the 201 00:12:27.520 --> 00:12:30.920 show. We'll be back again with more conversations, 202 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:34.560 reflections and practices for finding spirituality in the 203 00:12:34.560 --> 00:12:38.200 everyday. Next episode comes out in two weeks. Time and 204 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:42.160 again, I'm really invested in finding these hopeful stories, so send 205 00:12:42.160 --> 00:12:45.870 them my way if you can. Until then, take care 206 00:12:45.870 --> 00:12:47.950 and keep exploring peace.