Today's Sermon

 

"Recapturing Hope"

 

Ecclesiastes 3:11
¹¹ He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Romans 5:3-5
³ And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Recapturing Hope

              I often think about what it means to have hope. I am sure we all grapple with this, some intangible thing you are supposed to carry with you at all times, like a keychain, but it is so hard for so many of us to understand. 

              Last winter, I embarked on a study abroad trip to the islands of Thailand to study coral reefs. I was so nervous- I prayed that I wouldn’t get sick, that I wouldn’t miss my family too much, that I would learn lots and enjoy my time. But I also prayed out of fear. Fear that seeing dead coral reefs at this point in my life would mean climate change is too far gone, and there’s nothing to be done to reverse it. 

              I was petrified that, upon arriving, all I would see would be dead coral. As our oceans continue to warm due to climate change, coral bleaching events become more and more prevalent in our seas and oceans. I am sure you’ve heard the news- it's difficult not to. In 2024, 73% of the great barrier reef showed evidence of bleaching. 

              I was so scared to get there, to see this bleached coral, and to feel like giving up. I was afraid I would be overwhelmed with the thought of “whatever I do, it won't be good enough.” To throw in the towel and let the terrifying monster that is climate change win. 

              And then I got there. I flew 14 hours, took 2 buses, 1 ferry, 1 small boat and arrived on a tiny island called Koh Rang. I saw so much evidence of climate destruction on this trip. I saw plastic littering beaches, getting stuck on corals and washing up next to fish. I searched for the vanishing dugongs, a manatee-like species, soon to become extinct in their once abundant numbers in Southeast Asia. We surveyed the water for hours looking for the remaining pod, but didn’t find any. There hadn’t been a sighting in months. I saw the dirt lines on houses that marked where floodwaters had crested, rivers overflowing with mud and debris from storms that are only becoming more frequent. These storms and floods threatened to unhouse thousands of people, and this was only the beginning. 

              On our first snorkel survey, I took a breath. God had prepared me for this. I knew I could look at something scary and hoped my strength would be enough to see the good. But as I flipped backward off the boat with my fins in hand, I halted. 

              The first thing I noticed was a beautiful bubble coral, light pink and covered in soft circular structures, just like bubbles. It was soft, and seemed to sway in the ocean like leaves in the breeze. Fish swam out in between each coral, darting around this  reef where life was thriving. 

              At this moment, I was surprised. I had been preparing for the worst. Mentally working myself up to the point where I would not let the destruction of our climate devastate me completely. I was not prepared for God’s plan, nor was I at all considering the wonder I was about to see. I was so sure it would be desolate, I didn’t even prepare for the possibility of wonder. How many of you prepare by imagining the worst case scenario? And how many of you act as if the worst case scenario has already happened? 

              The scripture states that God has set eternity in the human heart, but that no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. If we cannot truly fathom something so great and unknown, is it fair of us to make assumptions of what will be the worst? Is it living with grace and light to accept and prepare for the worst, not knowing what could be waiting?

              Unfortunately, there are a lot of less beautiful stories out there. Coral around the world is truly dying, and at an alarming rate. On our current track, by 2050, the world will have warmed by 2.7 degrees Ferenheit, causing catastrophic damage to our ecosystem. Corals will bleach worldwide. 

              It is so scary to be a 20 year old in today’s world. Science is telling us that if we don’t change things, everything we know will collapse in a matter of years. It is so easy to lose hope. There are times, after lectures in college looking at glacial mapping over the years, that I wonder why I even would try. Whether there is even a solution. But I know that if I give up, if I quit, there is no solution. The other choice, the one to succumb to the pressure and panic I feel, leaves the world with one less person fighting. The alternative is to accept defeat. 

              Yet people are there, working. The coral gardeners are an organization installing synthetic coral structures worldwide, hoping to bring reefs back to health. The SeaClear robot was developed to scoop plastic from the oceans in the most efficient way to date. 

              I’m going to spit a bit of science at you, if that’s OK. Corals build their hard external structures from calcium carbonate, found dissolved in the ocean. However, what gives the coral its color and life is actually a form of algae, called zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae find shelter in the structure, in turn providing the coral with nutrients. I learned on this trip that when a coral becomes too hot and stressed, it expels the algae growing inside it, using its structure for a home. However, bleaching isn’t dead. Bleached coral can actually recapture the zooxanthellae from the water column, reviving itself again. A bleached coral can once again regain its color. Bleached doesn’t mean gone, not yet. 

              Afflictions produce endurance. Every single one of us have been through what seemed like the worst thing that could have happened. Sometimes these hardships are unfathomable. 

              Our enduring work to solve these problems may make us stronger, more resilient. Our afflictions, the ones we face every day in the wake of this climate changing world, only lead us to clearer solutions, to more community effort, to improved understanding. That is why we boast in our afflictions. Not because they are by any means positive, but because the only way out is through. There is no way forward without endurance. Without struggle, there is nothing to hope for. We are strong enough to look into fear. We stare off the side of the boat not knowing what’s underwater, but getting in anyway. Hope is the most powerful tool we have to forge our future. 

              Hope and trust will lead us through the darkest of times. Even in those times, there is a light, floating in and around you, like the algae in the water. It may be invisible to us, but if we focus, we can feel it. We need only have character, endurance, and enough trust to tackle whatever is in front of us, not preparing for the worst, but knowing our love,  and the plan for us will carry us through. No expectations, take it as it comes, because we are held strong by the bravest force of all.