General Conference shows hope is
word with muscle, change is always possible

By Rachel Wright
When I was a kid and I wanted something from my father that he didn’t want to give—an extra bedtime story, a trip to the mall, money for the movies—his standard answer was, “We’ll see.”
It was infuriating.
His words left open the possibility that I would receive what I wanted. They sounded like words of hope. But after awhile, we both knew that “we’ll see” was his polite short-hand for “not a chance.”
According to Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, president of the Council of Bishops, we are all guilty of misusing the language of hope. During opening worship at General Conference, she suggested that in our modern context, hope has become a flabby, shabby sort of word. At best, it is naive or sickly sweet. Even worse, hope has become a synonym for “we’ll see.’ When we, in the church, talk about the things that we want—more young people, an end to poverty, peace—but cannot imagine bringing those dreams to fruition, we say “I hope it will happen.”
Huie challenged the body to reclaim hope as an active, powerful word and practice. The scriptures give us a sense of this reclaimed hope when they say that the whole of creation has been groaning in labor pains. It is our sure and certain belief that transformation—like a newborn baby—is coming; hope is what sustains us through the difficulties of that transformation.
Opening worship for General Conference was held on the 40th anniversary of the night in which we became United Methodists by combining the Methodist church and the United Evangelical Brethren. Footage from that historic night was shown last week.
I was struck by the fact that the solemn men gathered there, most of whom are gone now, seemed sure that what they were doing was indeed significant. I imagine that they had many dreams and visions about the prosperous future of a newly united church.
Last week, we were gathered together from around the world. The worship service was translated into six “main” languages for those United Methodists who do not speak English fluently. Communion was served to 6,000 from a round table at the center of the auditorium. It was presided over by a woman and an African-American man, both bishops.
Forty years ago, the men who birthed our modern denomination with a handshake did not dream that they were laying the foundation for a worldwide connection. Forty years ago, those men could not have imagined the hard work that was ahead of them to make a place at the table for the people who lead our church today.
But God imagined this and much more for us and all along the way, there have been people who hoped even in struggle.
God’s kingdom comes. Let us be a hopeful people who respond to God’s dreams for us by saying, “Yes, we see. And we believe.”