Generating Hope, Sermon 2/2/25

We all have the power to time travel to the future. We don’t need any special technology, like the DeLorean in Back to the Future or the blue telephone box that is operated by Dr. Who. Our imaginations are more powerful than we give them credit for, and we can leap into the future and imagine the goodnesses we want, then take small concrete steps towards making it happen.
One very powerful way to create hope where hope did not exist before is by imagining the future, 10 years from now, in great and specific detail.

10 years is a special amount of time! We mark history and fashion by decades, and we mark the length of our lives in decades. We say that the 1960’s were a time of tumult, positive change and bell-bottoms, the flapper fashion was based in the 1920’s, and a person’s life from ages 20-30 is best used for exploration, growth, and new beginnings. 

10 years is far enough away that it feels that anything could be different in that time, and yet it is close enough that it’s possible to imagine how small steps we take now could lead to a transformed future. In the book “Imaginable, How to Create a hopeful future”, Jane McGonigal suggests developing a regular and consistent practice of imagining the future 10 years from now. She suggests there’s something magical about a decade, and that a decade is far enough out that current constraints and problems can be imagined to be gone. Whether you imagine something positive or negative, she says the trick is to imagine in great detail. Just as I invited you to do in the meditation just a few minutes ago.

There is a quiz in this book which tests hopefulness. It asks to pick an issue you are worried about and then pick a community that you’d like to work towards creating resiliency towards that issue. When I first read the book, I picked supply chain breakdowns, and I picked Unitarian Universalism. As I answered the questions in the quiz, it became obvious that I wasn’t all that hopeful that I could impact how resilient Unitarian Universalism as a whole would be in the face of supply chain breakdown collapse.

The reason I picked supply chain breakdown is because it was a topic that my teenage nonbinary child, Wren, had brought to me with concern. They were worried about what if the supply chain breaks down and we can’t get bread, or eggs, or other kinds of food. This issue is likely to be a real concern in the coming decades, especially with climate change already happening, and so I picked it as my topic to test hopefulness. But I found my hope score was low. Initially anyway.

But the crucial thing I learned from taking the quiz is that I became much more hopeful when I picked a smaller community. Instead of Unitarian Universalism, I imagined myself building resiliency just among my group of friends. This felt much more possible. I realized that if there were supply chain shortages, first we’d just need to focus on day to day food. So, one thing I could do to prepare would be to take time now to encourage all of my friends to make a plan in case they couldn’t buy food for a few weeks. It’s not too hard to store some extra dried beans and rice for an emergency. Maybe we could start growing microgreens in our apartment. I figured if we made a plan to get through a few weeks, that could be a stopgap to a bigger solution.  Also, we could get to know our neighbors and build more community, because it’s going to be our relationships to our community that get us through the worst of times. I advised Wren to do research into little easy steps we could take now to get us through a situation like that, instead of becoming frozen in fear.

When the pandemic started, I was actually able to prepare my home for the shortages we faced for a bit, because of this kind of forward thinking. While people around me hadn’t accepted yet that a serious virus was spreading, or that lockdown could happen, I was actively preparing in concrete ways. Even imagining negative futures in great detail can help us process grief ahead of time, so that when an emergency happens, we can be proactive in meeting the needs of ourselves and our families.

Sometimes in life the present moment can feel inevitable and permanent. It can feel as if things have always been this way, or as if things were always going to turn out this way, or as if things are going to follow the same track they’ve always been on. 

Adrienne Marie Brown, in our reading today, states that imagination is a spoil of colonization, and is an impact of trauma. If we believe that the present moment represents a permanent state of things, or that whatever happens next is inevitable, we are giving up our power to shape the future. Those who benefit from the unjust systems of today also benefit from us feeling that nothing can be done. If we want to create a future that works for everybody, which I think we do, first we cultivate a future-oriented sense of potentiality and possibility by using our imagination. This powerful practice generates new neural pathways, new ways of thinking that are agile and skillful at brainstorming effective solutions. 

We also need to plan our big dreams in small actions.

A gift of my 40’s has been a deeper understanding of time than I had in my 20’s. I see now how small habits accumulated over time build to make powerful realities. We build our future one small action at a time, and all of this small living can add up to be so big.

So, I invite you now to think back on what you imagined in the meditation earlier, and look at the art that you made or are still making. What was the vision you had for 10 years from now? Imagine it again, those same specific sensory details. Bring yourself back to that feeling.
Now, brainstorm one small action that you can begin taking in your life that would move you towards this beautiful vision you had. What’s one little daily habit that you could build, that over time, would move the needle in the direction of love, justice, peace, prosperity, health, beloved community?

After the service, I invite you to talk to someone about your new habit. Make a plan. Put it in your calendar or write it on a post-it note. Get started today in creating the future you want. Remember that the future is not decided, is not static, is not certain. This is a good thing. Possibility and potentiality exist, and they take form through small, consistent actions.

 By time traveling to the future, may we action our way to a future where we can all thrive together.
May it be so. Blessed be.

Chalice Extinguishing By Ben Atherton-Zeman

As we extinguish the flame on our chalice, we ignite it inside ourselves. Our commitment to our mission and to one another is an unquenchable flame.Let us remember that we are not alone until we light this flame next time.

Benediction

Spirit of hope, love, justice, freedom, health and prosperity, spirit that imbues nature and that gives all of us life. As we take small and consistent actions towards a beautiful future, may we remember that we have each other, that all of life is connected, and that we can choose hope. May we choose hope.
Blessed Be, Amen