E-mail Sermon April 27, 2008 - "Hope Springs Eternal"

Willapa United Methodist Church

• A little learning is a dangerous thing.
• To err is human, to forgive, divine.
• Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
• Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

All of these phrases, that have become part of our every-day language, were written by the eighteenth century English poet, Alexander Pope. Some scholars believe that Pope is the third most quoted person in the English language, behind only Alfred Lord Tennyson and William Shakespeare. “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” comes from a poem written late in Pope’s life, around 1734, called “An Essay on Man.”

“An Essay on Man” is one of the foundational documents for what is often called the “optimistic philosophy.” It is a philosophy of living based on optimism, a positive outlook on life. Ernest Lawrence Thayer even borrowed this line from Pope for his famous baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” (sorry, I just didn’t get enough baseball last week):

With that hope that springs eternal from within the human breast.

Today, when we read the newspaper and watch the news on TV, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a positive attitude. But, as bad as we might have it today, the folks that Peter was writing to in our text for today really had it worse. They were being persecuted and even killed for being Christian. 

From the relative safety and security of the United States, it’s hard for us to appreciate how relevant Peter’s words of encouragement are for those Christians in our world today in places like the Sudan, Malaysia, Iran, India, and China who are being persecuted and even dying for their faith in Christ. Reading and hearing about persecution is not the same as living through it. 

From Alexander Pope we get a philosophy of optimism. From the Apostle Peter we get a theology of hope. By the way, do you know what the difference between philosophy and theology is? Theology is when you take a philosophy and add God. In order to tie together Peter’s letter of encouragement to early Christian churches, Pope’s poem of optimism written for eighteenth century England, and our own witness to others in twenty-first century America, I want to tell the story of two men, one of whom you have probably heard of and one whose name has probably never entered most of our minds.

First the one most of us know. The Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale is known as the Champion of Positive Thinking. His most popular book, The Power of Positive Thinking, has sold more than 20 million copies in 41 languages. I remember seeing this book all over the place when I was growing up, and wondering what the big attraction was.

Norman Vincent Peale was born in 1898 in Ohio and helped support his family by doing any menial job that he could get, including delivering newspapers and selling pots and pans, door-to-door. He said that he had a very bad inferiority complex as a youth and that he developed his positive-thinking philosophy just to help himself. But, along the way to becoming a journalist, he gave his life to Christ, adding God to his positive-thinking philosophy created his positive-living theology.

At the ripe old age of 24, Peale was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church and served Methodist churches for about ten years before changing denominations to become pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church, a Dutch Reformed Church, in New York City. That’s right, Norman Vincent Peale was a Methodist first! He would go on to found a weekly radio ministry, write more than 40 books, and start the religious magazine, Guideposts, which now boasts a circulation of over 4.5 million.

In the basement of the Marble Collegiate Church, Peale established a mental health clinic with Dr. Smiley Blanton, a psychiatrist. That small clinic grew to become the Institutes of Religion and Health, and Peale is credited with pioneering the merger of theology and psychology which has become known as Christian Psychology. 

Peale said, “through prayer you…make use of the great factor within yourself, the deep subconscious mind…[which Jesus called] the kingdom of God within you.” John Wesley called it “prevenient grace,” Peter just called it “the hope that is in you.”

The other man that I want to talk about, the one most of us don’t know at all, is Edward Mote. Edward Mote was an English poet like Alexander Pope, but he only wrote a few poems and all of them are set to music as hymns. You see, Edward Mote was a cabinet maker and later a pastor, who found poetry was the best way for him to “give an account of the hope that was in him.”

Edward Mote was as obscure as Alexander Pope and Norman Vincent Peale were famous. Mote was a poet like Pope, but only one of his poems is widely recognized. Mote was a pastor like Peale, but he served a small Baptist country church in Horsham, England for his entire ministerial career. I can personally identify with Edward Mote because he didn’t enter the ministry until he was 55.

Edward Mote was born in 1797. He was not raised in a Christian family. His parents managed a pub in London and, as a boy, Edward spent most of his Sundays playing in the streets. But, somehow he was exposed to the Gospel, and was baptized into the church at the age of 18. I like to think that Edward found Christ through the witness of someone who was “giving an account of the hope that was in them.”   He became a cabinet maker and worked in that trade for 37 years before becoming a pastor.

One morning in 1834, Edward was walking to work at the cabinet shop and the Holy Spirit put a burden on his heart to write a hymn. By the time he got to work, the chorus was done. The verses took shape that very day. In one day, Edward Mote wrote a poem that summarized his faith in Christ, a poem that would inspire millions of Christians for years to come: The Solid Rock. The original title that Mote gave the poem was The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope. Aren’t you glad that title didn’t stick! We know Mote’s poem of faith today as My Hope Is Built. Nearly thirty years after Mote wrote the words, William Bradbury wrote music especially for Mote’s poem, and a Christian classic was created. I think St. Peter eyes were filled with tears the first time he heard this hymn from heaven, and thought about his letter to those early Christians who were struggling to put their faith into words.

Two men, one famous and one obscure; both ready at a moment’s notice to give an account for the hope that was in them. Surely both were greeted in paradise with: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But, there is one more story to be told this morning.

On April 18, 1999, less than ten years ago, a young woman was asked to include her witness on a church video. She was seventeen years old. This is what she said about her faith, “I just try to not contradict myself, to get rid of all the hypocrisy and just live for Christ.” Two days later, Cassie Bernall was huddled under a table in the library of Columbine High School in Colorado. Her cell phone was on, so the world got to hear her witness her faith once more. Holding a gun to Cassie head, her persecutor asked her if she still believed in God. Cassie simply said, “Yes, I believe” as her killer pulled the trigger.

You and I will probably never experience persecution like those early Christians, or face death like Cassie Bernall, for believing in Christ, but we should all follow Peter’s advice. Let’s turn to the back of our worship bulletins and read together the Thought for the Week: “Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.” Remember, hope springs eternal in the Christian breast! Thanks be to God!