Being an optimist in the midst of whatever it is we are in…

At my core, I’m an eternal optimist. No, I’m not the type who only sees wonderful things. I see plenty of junk. I see the injustice. I see the hatred and fear. I see the resistance to so many things. I see plenty of idolatry. I see the meanness. I see the brokenness. I see the despair. I see the lack of hope. I see the orientation towards violence. I see the toxic individualism. I see it all. And it weighs heavy on me.

And yet in spite of all of that, I remain an optimist.

Here’s what being an optimist in the midst of all that means to me. It means that I have hope that things will get better. I have a belief that they will. Maybe it’s buying into what MLK said — that the moral arc of the universe is oriented towards justice. Maybe it’s because I have a low anthropology and so I have low expectations.

I think part of my ultimate optimism is founded in faith. I don’t put my faith in humanity’s progress or humanity’s efforts to make life better. I see plenty of examples of the opposite of that. Rather, my hope stems from God’s actions in creation.

At the end of John 6 some of the people following Jesus get offended at what he is teaching and they stop following him. And Jesus lets them go. He doesn’t chase them. Probably because he doesn’t really need them. His focus is on proclaiming God’s kingdom and hope, and inviting people into that. He asks the Apostles if they are going to go away also. Peter has the answer that I resonate with —…