Hope Is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community (Luther Smith Jr) - Review
HOPE IS HERE! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community. By Luther E. Smith Jr. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press 2023. Xiii + 192 pages.
The word “hope” means different
things to different people. For many, hope is synonymous with optimism. While
it may include a bit of optimism, in that it is forward-looking, it's much more
than that. The book of Hebrews defines faith as the "assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). Jürgen
Moltmann's theological program that focuses on hope has a strong eschatological
bent. Moltmann’s theology envisions a future that God already inhabits and
invites us to follow along toward its fulfillment in the realm of God. For
people committed to social justice and working toward the creation of the
beloved community, hope is the key to pursuing that vision despite the
challenges presented by life. So, how do we experience this sense of hope that
undergirds the pursuit of justice and the beloved community?
Luther Smith, the emeritus
professor of Church and Community at Candler School of Theology, at Emory
University takes up the question of how we might live into justice and the
beloved community. He describes in Hope Is Here! the "spiritual
practices for pursuing justice and beloved community. Smith believes that while
love is extremely important—remember that Paul called it the greatest
characteristic of life—in our day the most important virtue is hope.
Smith shares with us in Hope Is Here! how "hope reveals, empowers, challenges, disrupts, transforms,
and enlivens us to God's desire for our lives and the world" (p. x). As
such this book introduces us to the spiritual practices that undergird this
work of hope that God invites us into. The destination for this work of hope is
the beloved community. The subtitle informs us that this journey requires
spiritual formation, and these practices help us pursue this calling.
Throughout the book, Smith shares stories of people and communities that
experience the kind of transformation he envisions. Thus, this is a very
practical book. He helps us see this process played out in real life.
Smith begins in Chapter 1 offering
us a definition of hope that is concerned with the here and now. In his view,
hope is a force of God that enables us to become the beloved community. He
reminds us that this is a journey that will change us if we take it. After
offering definitions and outlining the path forward, in Chapter 2, Smith
focuses on "Hope's Work and Its Witnesses." He speaks of the
invitations that enable us to experience the beloved community and personal
transformation so that we can become people committed to the pursuit of
justice. Part of this process is to hear and share stories that lead to
transformation.
If hearing and sharing stories is a
spiritual practice, so is "Contemplative Praying" (Chapter 3). Smith
believes that prayer can change us by opening our hearts to God's presence. It
is the spiritual foundation for experiencing hope. Thus, "contemplative
praying helps us to remember prophetically and emboldens us to engage (enact in
our lives) what we have heard and discerned," and then enables us to
pursue further practices (p. 72).
Chapters 4 and 5 spoke to my own spiritual
journey that moved from optimism to hope. Chapter 4 is titled "Prophetic Remembering."
According to Luther Smith, “prophetic remembering” is more than remembering
past events, it "is submission to the authority and meaning of what we
remember," whether it is commandments, covenants, or the words of the
prophets. This leads to prophetic action on our part. It is also more than
remembering the past, for he speaks of "remembering the future." He
speaks of prophetic remembering as an "action of healing for society’s
crises." (p. 96). We often hear people, including politicians, speak of
the glories of the past that when looked at critically are less than glorious. What
we can remember are the promises of God delivered by prophets like Micah and
Jeremiah. Thus, he writes that “prophetic remembering entails knowing the
prophet’s testimonies and enacting what they say to us about God’s heart
for compassion and justice” (p. 100) In Chapter 5 Smith speaks of
"Crossing Identity Boundaries." He acknowledges that boundaries are
important to the process of defining identity. However, we need to clarify our
boundaries so we can cross them in pursuit of justice and the beloved
community. Hope compels us to do just that so that we might experience
"God's enlivening love in the people and places where God resides"
(p. 105). He reminds us that many people don't choose to cross boundaries for a
variety of reasons because to do so may make them strangers in a strange land.
When we think of refugees and immigrants, and the challenges facing them, we
might better understand what this means. With this in mind, if we embrace hope
then we will be in a position to experience and share hospitality. It is in
this context that we discover the beloved community.
Chapter 6 is titled "Transforming Conflict." In
this chapter, Smith invites us to befriend conflict (something I struggle with).
He notes that conflict has a bad reputation, but conflict, if befriended, can
lead to transformation. This happens as conflict opens us up to insights into
our relationships. One of the places this occurs is when we cross identity
boundaries. It also involves befriending forgiveness, The focus here is on
different forms of befriending, which "is the opportunity to be enlivened
to life where conflict rages or needs to rage, transformation beckons, and
forgiveness heals" (p. 157). He concludes with a word of wisdom suggesting
that the practices discussed throughout the book—contemplative praying,
prophetic remembering, and crossing identity boundaries—serve as resources for
transforming conflict. While hope is primary, he does point out that “love is
our motivation for befriending. Love dwells in conflict. Love empowers
transformation. Love heals through forgiveness. Love leads us to offer our
lives for God’s dream of justice and beloved community.” Thus, “Hope is here in
transforming conflict!” (p. 157).
Finally, hope involves celebration
in community (Chapter 7: "Celebrating Community”). The endpoint of this
journey, which requires the pursuit of justice, is discovering and creating the
beloved community. As we enter it, there is reason to celebrate. Our sacred
rituals help us do this. So, Smith introduces us to some of the ways we can
celebrate, such as through song, communal sabbaths, spiritual retreats, and
prayer. This is a good reminder that the work of justice can wear us down if
we're not rooted spiritually. Therefore, celebration is a portal to the beloved
community.
If hope is the virtue we need at
this moment, though not at the expense of love, to serve as the foundation for
the journey toward the beloved community, then Smith offers us a powerful
exposition and development of this calling to be people of hope who journey
toward the beloved community in Hope Is Here! This is really a most
valuable book for the church to engage with. It is meant to be read in
community, such that each chapter has discussion questions that can assist in
this process. At this point in history, where many look back with nostalgia to
what they’ve been led to believe was a golden age (though for many the 1950s
was anything but a golden age), here is a word that will help us remember
prophetically, but move forward not backward, such that we might truly
experience the gift of hope that leads to the beloved community.
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