Look Again

A few weeks ago, the BBC reported a discovery that had been made in the art world.

It all had to do with the work of an abstract artist by the name of Pierre Mondrian,

and the piece of art was entitled New York City One.

It was created with pieces of adhesive strips on blank, I'm not sure if it was canvas or what it was,

but it had been displayed in Europe and in America for some 75 years.

And the big discovery was that all that time, they'd been displaying it upside down.

Do you want to see it?

We've got a picture?

Now, they decided they can't turn it back up the right way,

because if they were to do that, it could damage the piece.

But the chief curator said, and I quote,

Once I pointed it out to the other curators, we realised it was very obvious.

The passage that we're presented with in Isaiah,

says something absolutely central to Christian hope.

Whatever your reality is, hope turns it upside down.

It completely turns it upside down.

However you look at reality,

the message of the Christian gospel,

and we need to remember that when we read Scripture,

all of it is about Jesus and his kingdom.

Even though, you know, words from Isaiah were written hundreds of years

before Jesus walked this earth,

it's all about Jesus.

It's always either pointing forward or pointing back,

pointing to Jesus.

Jesus and his kingdom.

When we hear that message,

wherever in Scripture it is presented,

it says, look,

whatever your view of reality,

it's got to be turned upside down.

Look again.

Now, that actually is challenging news at times.

It's very, very encouraging positive news,

because it means that however bleak your reality may seem,

no matter how completely devastating things may look,

the message of the kingdom of God turns it upside down.

You see it through a different lens.

And that's what we find here in these verses from Isaiah,

that the people of Israel were in exile.

Their homeland was completely trashed.

Their lives seemed utterly hopeless,

and there was no sense of what their future would be.

How could things ever seem different?

They were devastated.

And yet Isaiah says,

you've got to look again.

And so we have this very rich imagery,

as he presents this,

of how their homeland would be restored to them,

and how they needed to look again.

And we have this image where

we have a scorched, barren desert

will be transformed into a lush garden

with bubbling streams,

with flowing springs,

flowing streams,

and blossoming flowers.

It was almost like we have this kind of contrast of opposites

in this passage,

that you see this reality,

well, it's going to be transformed into its opposite.

Whatever you see right now,

it's going to be different.

It's going to be changed.

It's going to be transformed.

And that's what hope is.

It turns reality upside down,

and says, look again.

See how this may be different.

Now, to the people of,

Isaiah was speaking to at his time,

were people who were in exile.

But when we take this message

into the whole of the scriptural message,

it talks about the coming of God's kingdom.

It's talking about the kingdom

that Jesus has inaugurated,

but one day will come in all its fullness.

Let's just close our eyes right now.

I want you to picture something.

It can be anything.

And don't worry,

I'm not going to ask you to talk to anybody

about what this is.

This is just between you and you and God.

And I want you just to imagine anything

that maybe it might be something

that's going on in your own life right now,

which causes you to fear

or to feel anxious or distressed

or worried or concerned.

It might be something

that you're actually going through

or something that isn't actually a reality now,

but you fear it could be.

Maybe very soon

or maybe in the distant future.

But just think of something.

Now, for most of us,

that won't normally be a difficult challenge

to imagine something like that.

But, you know,

if you're struggling to think,

well, think of something

beyond your own personal experience

and your own personal life

and think of something

perhaps national or global.

Picture a scene somewhere

in the world

that you've heard reported

in the news in recent times

where the situation looks bleak.

Think of a war zone.

Think of a situation

of tragedy and brokenness.

Now, whatever it is

you're thinking of right now,

just picture it in your mind.

Picture some scenes

in its worst form.

I'm just going to give you a moment

just to think about this

as you unpack that scene

in your imagination.

Now, holding that picture in your mind,

do you imagine Isaiah

speaking this message into it?

Because whatever you're picturing,

I want you to now

transform that picture

into the absolute opposite

of whatever it is

you've just been thinking about.

Where that picture

is no longer one of fear

or devastation

or brokenness,

but one of life

and hope

and energy

and goodness

and things restored.

Let's open our eyes again.

We're going to come back

to that shortly

as we come to pray.

But this is what,

this is what Isaiah's message,

this is what the message

of scripture

when it comes to hope

is all about.

However we see reality,

we are called to turn it on its head

and see it differently

through a radically different lens.

That kind of means,

I think,

broadly speaking,

two things.

Firstly,

it means that we are challenged

to see potential

in realities

that might not

be immediately obvious.

So in other words,

that we may experience

something that seems

absolutely,

completely void of hope.

Whereas when we bring hope

into it,

we're able to see something

not as it is,

but as the potential

that it contains.

There was another artist,

actually,

who was,

his name was James Whistler,

who's an American artist.

He was not exactly bashful

about his talent.

And apparently there was an occasion

where some canvases,

some blank canvases,

had been dispatched to him.

There were quite a lot of them

and they were lost in the mail.

And apparently he was asked,

were these blank canvases

of great value?

To which he replied,

not yet.

Hope means seeing the potential

that is inherent in something

that hasn't yet been brought out.

And God sees that potential,

he sees it in our lives

in a way that we don't see.

That's the first thing.

But the second thing

that hope does

is that it enables us

to see reality

even in those situations

where it seems absolutely impossible

to see a turnaround.

Where no matter how hard we think

and we try to imagine

how things could contain potential,

we just can't see it.

Those situations of utter,

utter devastation.

God says to us,

no, you've got to think again,

you've got to see this differently.

You may think

there is no potential here.

You may think

that there is absolutely

nothing here.

to envisage

how it could be different,

but it can be

and it will be.

Very early on

when I first started

in ministry,

it became very apparent

to me

how important hope is.

Because there are situations

and we always need hope,

no matter whatever situation

we're going through.

It's part of life

and without it,

we're devastated.

We need it.

We need its energy.

We need to be able to see

how things can be different,

can be changed,

can be transformed.

And that's true

of all of life.

But it became apparent

to me that,

in fact,

when it comes to talking

about Christian hope,

about what it is

that we hope for

as Christians,

unless we can speak

of that in a way

that is genuinely

meaningful

in the most broken

and devastating

and tragic of situations,

then it's going to be

difficult to speak

of that in a way

that's meaningful

in any situation.

And so,

and some of you

will know this,

I spent the next

five years of my life

researching this

as my PhD.

I wanted to know

what is hope?

What do Christians mean

when we talk about hope?

It took me in two areas

of research.

On the one hand,

I wanted to know

what psychologists

had to say

about hope.

And over a period

of five years,

I read pretty well

everything that had

ever been written

about the psychology

of hope

and about what

nursing science

in clinical settings

happened to say

about hope.

What does it mean

to have hope

in palliative situations?

What does it mean

to have hope

in the face of death?

It's fascinating.

It's a pretty well

universally held

set of principles

that we need hope.

But the question is

how do we find that hope?

Particularly in those

situations where

things are so broken

and so devastated

that it just seems

impossible to see

how things could

ever improve.

And the other part

of my research

was looking at

the theology of hope.

I came to the conclusion

which I still hold to

is that ultimately,

ultimately,

that thing that is

distinctive to our

Christian belief

is unique

and is the only thing

that can hold out hope

in the face of literally

anything and everything.

Why?

Because that's focus

is upon the resurrection

of Jesus.

At the heart of our faith

is this conviction

that Jesus

actually died.

He was tortured

and killed

and was dead

and buried

and stayed dead

for a whole weekend.

And only out of that

experience of crucifixion

and being dead

and buried

was he raised.

And only God

can do that.

Only God can create

a universe out of nothing.

Only God can breathe

life into

a dead body.

And so it is

that only that hope

in Jesus Christ

and his resurrection

that turns history around,

only that

will suffice.

You take that away

from the Christian gospel

and we're not left

with very much.

But we don't need

to take that away

from the Christian gospel

because that is

the Christian gospel.

Look again.

The thing is

is that when we look

at the realities

around us,

the very things

that God is doing

and the promises of God

are realities

that we cannot see.

They're not tangible

but God can.

Which is why

throughout the New Testament

we have Paul talking

about the powers

and the principalities

that we cannot see.

They're of a different kingdom

but they are that dimension,

that reality

that are there

that we need to know about.

Whenever we pray,

whenever we bring anything

before the throne

of God in prayer,

we are engaging

in a reality

that is not

a material reality.

It's not something

that you can see

and touch

and unpack

and explore.

We are dealing

with ultimate reality

and it is ultimate reality

that God promises us.

All the while

that we may be surrounded

by brokenness

and destruction,

God sees things differently.

I want to share

with you a story

and close with this story

which I'm going to read

to you

because it's presented

far better

than I can present it

in my own words.

And it's a story

about a family

in a town

called Jezero.

It took place

in the 1990s.

Jezero was in

the Bosnian region.

It was before the start

of the Bosnian war,

the Malcock family

lived next to a small lake

in the northwestern village

of Jezero.

One day

in 1990,

Smedio Malcock

returned from a trip

to Austria

with an unusual gift

for his teenage sons,

Zavad and Katib.

It was an aquarium

with two goldfish.

Two years passed

before Bosnian Serb forces

advanced on Jezero.

The women and children

fled

and the men stayed back

to resist the attacking soldiers.

Smedio Malcock

was killed.

When his wife,

Fahima,

sneaked back

into the destroyed village

to bury her husband

and rescue what remained

of their belongings,

she took pity

on the fish

in the aquarium.

She let them out

into the nearby lake,

saying to herself,

this way

they might be

more fortunate

than us.

Fast forward

to 1995.

Fahima Malcock

returned with her sons

to Jezero.

Nothing but ruins

remained of their home

and their village.

Through misty eyes

she looked towards the lake.

Glimpsing something strange

she walked over

to the shore.

The whole lake

was shining

from the thousands

of golden fish in it.

She said,

it made me immediately

think of my husband.

This was something

he left me

that I had never

hoped for.

During the years

of killing

all around the lake,

life underwater

had flourished.

After their return

for him

and Malcock

and her sons

started caring for

and selling

the goldfish.

By 1998,

homes,

stores

and coffee shops

all over the region

featured aquariums

containing fish

from Jezero.

The Malcock house

rebuilt on its

original site

is one of the biggest

in the village.

Two new cars

are parked in front

and the family

says it has enough money

to quit worrying

about the future.

Zavid Malcock

said

it was a special

kind of gift

from our father.

Hope says

look again.

Hope says

all the while

there are things

there are realities

going on

that you cannot see

but are there.

All the while

that war

and devastation

was raging

there were realities

of life flourishing

where it could not be seen.

And this is

the dynamic

by which we are

called to live

as Christians.

to trust

that God

is in control

of those realities

that we cannot see.

Spiritual realities

and spiritual truths

but to connect

with him

and to trust

that that which

we cannot see

is real

and is true

and is to be trusted.

As Tagore

once said

faith is the bird

that sings

when the dawn

is still dark.

so let's pray

once again.

Let's join

together in prayer.

As we

once again

I invite you

to close your eyes

and

as we do so

let's just

revisit

those

realities

that we thought

about just now.

and in our

minds

let's just

think

if they may

be realities

in our own

lives

they may be

global realities

they may be

things that

present us

with a sense

of angst

or concern

or fear

or worry.

Let's hold

those realities

and all their

brokenness

before God

in prayer.

Lord God

thank you

that you

call us

you challenge

us

to see

things

through a

different lens

that you

turn reality

upside down.

Lord

we hold

in our

prayers

now

those

situations

in our

own

lives

and those

situations

more widely

across the

world

where all

that can be

seen

is apparent

destruction

and chaos.

We hold

before you

those situations

that seem

apparently

full of

nothing other

than despair.

Lord

we hold

before you

our worst

fears.

Lord

as we

bring these

things before

you in

prayer

help us

to trust

in you

and to

see these

things

differently

to see

them

turned

upside

down

to see

them

as you

see

them

to trust

in you

that your

kingdom

is promised

that your

kingdom

will come

and it

will come

in all

its

fullness.

So

Lord

give us

the strength

to live

by that

promise

to live

by that

hope

and to

know

that you

are coming

to us

in Christ

to make

all things

new.

May we

live by

that,

trust by

that and

hope by

that.

Now

and every

day

in Jesus'

name we

pray.

Amen.

Amen.