dust and hope

I was reading in Romans today and came across these words "now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?" (Romans 8)

It seems to me that we are living in an era short on hope. Our demands for proofs dismisses the unproven and un-provable like dust in the dust pan, gathered up to be sure, but not worth keeping. Aren’t the unproven and the un-provable the stuff hope is made of? I was amused (and disturbed) this Easter by the numbers of sincere Christians who believe that the evidence of the Christian faith makes believing in Jesus inevitable. As a man, we can reasonably marshal significant evidence that he lived and taught. And this evidence has sources that are both Christian, Jewish and pagan. It is much harder to marshal evidence that Jesus was born of a virgin, that the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and he was filled with power, or that he rose again. This is the unproven and the un-provable - at least by the measures and means of the scientific method / worldview. Dust for the dustbin, or hope for the seeker?

If we live in an era short on hope - why? have we so embraced the scientific method that we have come to truly believe that everything can be weighed and measured, reduced to its smallest competent part and understood? In a sad way I conclude yes. We even try to measure love. As a parent I read with delight the book "to the moon and back” In the book a mother rabbit and her child out do each other in expressing how much love they have for each other. These two rabbits use the measure of distance as a metaphor for their love, with the funny climax being the mother saying "I love you to the moon" and the child saying "I love you to the moon and back,” We even try to measure love. and if ever there was an un-measurable thing it must be love. We can only ever see how far love has gone, we can never know how far love will go.

So it is with Jesus - we are long on proving - because that is the currency of our day (even if some of us think it is the twilight for the era of "prove it" being a trump card). To my thinking, proving it as very short on hope. It calls for no belief, no faith. Proving it asks for no wonder and no delight. Christians seeking to give evidence proving that Jesus lived and taught is one thing - that could be understood as prompting the search for hope. But an evidence driven faith in a God beyond measurement takes the hope, the wonder and the faith out of what it is to believe. Thanks but no thanks.

As for me - I am content to call my hope dust and sweep it up, not to throw it in the dust bin, but to throw it in the wind and hope it get in my eyes, or maybe in your eyes. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?