Hope vs. Apathy

Romans 13:11-14

While it might seem like the constant onslaught of news is unprecedented… In a previous generation in the aftermath of World War 2, the Korean War was waged and soon therafter the civil rights movement picked up steam. And after historic policy victories, especially as it relates to voting rights and the down fall of Jim Crow laws, our nation joined another “war” (it was never declared—isnt that absurd?) in Vietnam.

And in the midst of our conflict in Vietnam, another protest movement emerged as people protested the war while a simultaenous sexual revolution was shaking up cultural assumptions.

While it feels like just so much is going on right now, this is certainly not the first time in our history where so much seems to be happening all at once. But what I do think is unique is just how much more aware we can be of every sordid detail of scandal and every shocking instance of lawless behavior of people in power through social media posts and constant media coverage.

And the onslaught of information, especially information that reveals just how fractured we are, how angry we are, how close to violence we are, how powerless we feel against the powers-that-be, would make it very reasonable for us to just close everything off and stop wasting our energy caring about what is happening.

In Romans, Paul wrote to a Christian community that is expecting the end of all things to happen pretty soon. And in his encouragement to them to “wake from sleep” and “throw off the works of darkness,” he advises them to “make no provision for the flesh.”

When we think of “the flesh” I think most of us might think of gluttony or illicit sexual behavior (something Paul mentions in his epistle!), but I want to propose that the desire to lean into casual apathy is also a provision of the flesh as well. It is a surrender to what can feel like physical fatigue when the news comes at us like a firehose. Apathy is our shrug while we assume there is nothing for us to do. It is a spiritual resignation that we have absolutely no power to right wrongs or hold power accountable.

This week marks the beginning of a new church year as we approach the first sunday of Advent, and at our church, we are focusing on the choices in front of us. Advent is a time of waiting—waiting for hope, waiting for peace, waiting for joy, waiting for love. In the time of the prophets, of the coming of Jesus, and in the growing pains of the early church, all times that the season of advent focuses on, there were choices. And in the tumultuous times we are living today we have choices, too.

This week as we focus on the theme of the first sunday of Advent: hope, we recognize that we have a choice between hope and apathy. Hope is difficult, it requires us to choose it and put energy toward sustaining it. Choosing hope means choosing to allow our hearts to be broken, our rightous anger at the spiritual forces of wickedness to be awakened, and our bodies to rise up for the cause of justice and peace.

We don’t have to surrender to the temptation of the flesh that is apathy, as our brains and bodies completely overwhelmed by all that is happening begs us to stop the firehose. Choosing hope means we take on what is ours to do, establish boundaries, get good rest, drink our water, all of it—so that we can get to work building up the goodness God desires for us to have on earth as it is in heaven.

Let’s choose hope instead of apathy, because only hope can truly save us.