Talk to KTT Christian Fellowship: Christian Hope is not false optimism

The Christian Fellowship of Kolej Teknologi Timur (KTT), Nilai, invited Fr. Michael Chua, Parish Priest of the Church of Visitation, Seremban and the Administrator of the Chapel of St. Theresa, Nilai, to speak to them on the issue of coping with discouragements and disappointments in the face of Christian Hope, yesterday, December 2. Fr. Michael gave a scriptural exposition of hope that spanned the entire Bible. He spoke of the Bible being a book that strung together stories of people who encountered discouragement, failure, disappointment, setback, and opposition narrated juxtaposed against a backdrop of God's loving and faithful presence and guidance. "Hope is found where hopelessness is experienced."

In the Old Testament hope is closely related to the character of God. "God is Truth! God never lies!" Those who hope in God, trust God and his promises. This patient hope is firmly anchored in the history and narrative of Scriptures. The God who has fulfilled his promises to Israel in the past will continue to be faithful in the present and future.

Hope in New Testament is rooted in the Old Testament. But the situation of the Christian who hopes is decisively different from that of the OT. Christian hope rests on God’s act of salvation in Christ. Christian hope therefore holds together tension of living in the present and yet journeying towards the future, towards the perfect realisation of God's salvation when Christ comes again. This tension is thus experienced in moments of difficulty, suffering and pain. Fr. Chua reassured them from his exposition of Rom 5:1-5, that Christian hope is based on reality and on three signs: namely the reality of Christ's victory over death and sin by his own death and resurrection, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the tribulation that would be experienced by his followers.

Finally, Fr. Chua used Moses as the model of hope in face of disappointments. Moses suffered setbacks and disappointments throughout his life in the form of an identity crisis, rejection by his own people and his own adopted family, complaints and criticisms from the people he led and finally experiencing the greatest disappointment of all, the unrealised dream of entering the Promised Land. For Moses, hope ultimately meant not placing hope in either persons or circumstances but in God who never disappoints. Hope is not false optimism, it is not based on the false belief that things will get better. In fact, things may get worse before they even improve. Hope is ultimately believing that God will be faithful to his promises and that He will be with us in both moments of joy and sorrow, success and failure, achievements and disappointments, life and death.

The Christian Fellowship of KTT is a community of Christians from various churches and denominations,including Catholics. They meet every Wednesday at 8.00 pm. For further information please contact Ricky 014-3727513 or Maegyvear (President) 014-5554668.

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