Immoveable Hope “‘I come not to destroy, but to build up.’”*
Continued from BLOG: THE HOPE WITHIN 3
It is short-sighted to assume needs get filled by solely looking out: the Prime Minister, the President, governments, institutions, political structures, businesses, jobs, etcetera – these are transient. What is immoveable is a hope within – God at centre of heart and mind.
This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. (Hebrews 6:19 New Living Translation)
The opening remarks of Senator William B. Jones when testifying to a Congressional committee in 1872 express elements of hope for society then that are just as relevant now. And not just for the American people living a tumultuous time with a volatile President leading their country but for all humankind.
Senator Jones is fired upon by gunshot while travelling in a carriage with his driver to Linden, Alabama to deliver a political speech. The undetected assailant remains hidden and camouflaged by the rising mist in an adjacent swamp. The Senator almost loses his life again after arriving in town and attempting to speak on the courthouse steps to an unsympathetic crowd. An ugly mob forms forcing him to flee.
The Congressional Committee that heard Senator Jones’ testimony of these events was investigating post-Civil War activities in Alabama of the Klu Klux Klan and other insurrectionary movements. Included in an appendix to his testimony are his beginning remarks made in Linden before he ran for his life. He identifies the unifying forces needed to build a new world order:
“In coming in your midst, I come ‘not to destroy, but to build up.’ I come before you not as you have been schooled and taught to believe about me from perusing the columns of the democratic papers of Alabama – with a torch in one hand and a fire-brand in the other! Neither am I here for the purpose of enunciating inflammatory and incendiary language, as you have been taught from perusing the columns of the same organs. In place of those destructive elements, I bring to you in one hand the flag of our common country. The same flag that rustled o’er our boyish heads, except its mighty folds are wider, and its glittering stars have increased in number. That same flag that has floated and still floats triumphant in every breeze! In the other hand I bring to you general amnesty, universal suffrage, and equal rights to every man, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition.”*
The building up Senator Jones refers to is not of walls but of all humankind. His hope flies under a flag of a united America. But hope for a better world and a brighter future isn’t found under a national banner because it resides within – in that immoveable place where God lives.
The next blog post will start a new theme called: SOUL AWAKENING
What is the immoveable hope in your life?
*Page 1471 appendix to the Testimony of William B. Jones taken by The Joint Select Committee to inquire into The Condition of Affairs in The Late Insurrectionary States. Alabama, Volume III, (Testimony, South Carolina, second volume), Washington: Government Printing Office 1872. https://archive.org/details/insurrectionstate03goverich