One of the anthems of the civil rights movement was sung by the legendary Sam Cooke, “A change is gonna come” released in 1965. The song resonates with the gospel for today- no matter how things seem to be going right now, in the end God will triumph. “It’s been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gonna come.” Don’t be too discouraged about how things look right now. Brighter days are on the way. As hopeful and as confident at the song sounds there is an undercurrent of sadness because the change is not here yet. (Sadder still, the song wasn’t released until a few months after Sam Cooke was murdered.) So maybe a better song to reflect the gospel for today is one from the gospel tradition, written by the Reverend James Cleveland. It goes, “Lord, help me to hold out, until my change comes.” Yes, we believe that in the end God will be all in all. However, we don’t live “in the end” but today amid global warming, political divisiveness, neighborhood violence, war in Europe, family struggles, food insecurity, the covid virus and persistent racism. We believe that a change is gonna come but we’ve got to live in the meantime. Help us to hold out!
Jesus says the key to holding out is “perseverance,” just hanging in there. “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” The word translated as “perseverance” is a common one in the Bible. It is more than patience. Have you ever been on the El when the conductor says there is a track condition ahead so we’re just going to sit here for awhile. Then she adds: “Thank you for your patience.” Like we have an option! What else can we be but patient. Perseverance, on the other hand, is an active word, conveying energy expended as you are bearing up. In the Old Testament it is used to express the idea of waiting for God to act, a kind of confident expectation as in Psalm 27: Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Since we stand upon the rock we can stand fast against the storm. In the New Testament the word carries more the idea of enduring in the midst of difficulties. When we are climbing on the rough side of the mountain we can endure all because of the hope we have been given in the Resurrection of Jesus. St. Paul puts it: we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint..
If that is what perseverance looks like in the Bible, what does it look like in Chicago in the year of our Lord 2022? What helps us to hold out until our change comes? First, we’ve got to work the program. Think of making a resolution on New Year’s Day. This year, you say, I’m going to lose weight. It goes good for the first day. You are very virtuous and turn down those black-eyed peas and corn bread and collard greens. Instead you have yogurt and berries. You go to bed very proud at your resolution. But then comes day two, day three, day fifteen. The resolution wavers. You start munching on Cheetos – hey, cheese is protein right? Before you know it you are no longer working the program. You have not persevered in your resolution. We tend to treat the spiritual life in the same way. We do good for awhile but then fall off. To hold out until our change comes requires a new approach. We have to have the spiritual practice to keep on keeping on.
We hold out until our change comes by living one day at a time. The reason we don’t persevere in those New Year’s resolution is that we can’t envision a life without pecan pie and mashed potatoes. What the twelve-step spirituality has taught us is that those cosmic worries are not effective. What does work is saying: Today I won’t drink or drug or gamble or whatever one’s current addiction is. One day at a time. I can commit to one day, right? You build a house one brick at a time. You pass a course one test at a time. You run a marathon one step at a time. You play a symphony one note at a time. You hold out, one day at a time. Today I won’t get my knickers in a twist. Today I won’t think we’re going to hell in a handbasket. Today I will find the signs of God’s presence in the midst of the nonsense. Today I will perform some act of kindness to make this world just a little bit better. I can’t fix yesterday. I can’t control tomorrow. But today I will persevere in hope and confidence that no matter how things seem, God never fails.
And one more thing that helps us to hold out until our change comes: surrounding ourselves with people who model for us God’s kingdom of compassion and kindness. St. Paul suggests this to the Church in Thessaloniki when he said “we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, to that you might imitate us.” In this age of social media we’ve seen the dangers of “group think,” of a group that sends itself in a downward spiral of negativity by feeding on a steady diet of lies and conspiracies. What is to prevent us from developing a kind of positive group think, a group that reinforces for one another the values of hope and confidence in the ways of God in the world? Sister Sunshine and Brother Blessed will do more to help us persevere than Donnie Downer. We must find those people who accentuate the positive to help us to hold out.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives. Here’s the lesson on how to hold out until our change comes: work the program one day at a time with companions on the journey… preservere with that and hope will not disappoint.