Gimme Somethin’

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I, too, may be consoled by news of you… I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me, and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon. – Philippians 2:19, 23-24 (NRSVUE) 

Locked up once again, Paul’s future was uncertain. This much he knew: The Philippians were quarreling, his first messenger was gravely ill, his own death was a possibility. Still his letter to the Philippians was full of encouragement and rejoicing. But read closely, and find some weary longing leaking out.  

Obstacles at every turn. Persecuted, undermined, imprisoned, imperiled. Watching from a distance while all that he built looked like it was falling apart. Can’t anything go right? C’mon, Philippians! Gimme somethin’ good. Just a little hope? 

If Paul can send Timothy, then there’s a little hope. If Timothy is welcomed, some more hope. If Timothy can change things, even more hope. Maybe hope will build in a virtuous cycle, generating enough hope-momentum that Paul will survive his current incarceration and get to visit himself. But first, he needs that little catalytic hope.   

Have you ever longed for a glimmer of hope when nothing seems to be going right? Anything to build off of, get you going? Just gimme somethin’ God! Maybe even if the bar for hope is so low it’s on the ground, at least there’s a bar? Sometimes glimpsing hope means redefining and recalibrating so that what looks like nothin’ can be the spark for somethin’. And sometimes that’s just enough to get the hope-momentum going.  

Prayer
Gimme a glimpse of that glimmer of hope, God. Grant me a mind to perceive even a little somethin’. Amen.

About the Author
Chris Mereschuk (He/Him) is the Director for Legacy and Church Redevelopment for the Southern New England Conference, UCC.