Saving Hope

Rev. Dr. Alfonso Wyatt

            If I had a business card that accurately captured the full spectrum and dynamic of my work, it would not list my professional titles or religious affiliation. My card would simply read “Merchant of Hope.”

Merchants once sailed the seven seas looking for opportunities to do business. These sailors had to be focused, dedicated, and in many instances, fearless because the seas could become dangerous in the blink of an eye. A Merchant of Hope is a person uniquely prepared for human rescue assignments. This act goes against today’s mindless materialism and suffocating self-centeredness. Merchants of Hope, buoyed by compassion and personal life experiences, sail the sea of life rescuing lost souls that have been hurt, rejected, maligned, and overlooked, as well as helping folk drowning in plain sight.

The passion and calling of Merchants of Hope are not understood by people who have never had their lifeboat rocked, have never been lost at sea, or discovered dangerous leaks in their craft. The self-satisfied discount or ignore the efficacy of hope. They are comfortable, complacent, and clannish. It is hard to move people that refuse to budge, thinking it is someone else’s job to wade in the water. It has been said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” However, this statement is ignored by folk who have been given much but feel no sense of responsibility to give back to others in need.

A Merchant of Hope has a way of rallying people to a cause through sacrifice, not for personal aggrandizement but for the greater good. That is the power of hope. Given the rising hatred that resurrects outmoded social Darwinist-driven policies, more people are feeling a sense of hopelessness. Now hope finds itself a casualty at sea. Even the stouthearted feel an ominous sense of hopelessness in the face of the “social tsunami” heading toward the shore that will eventually drag out to sea babies, youth, poor families, elders, and immigrants.

Look with spiritual eyes so you can see what is happening. Hope is gasping. Hope is drowning. Hope is clinging to floating planks from previous wrecks. Hope is sending out an SOS. Can you hear it? Do you feel it? Will you react to it? Beloved, there is an urgent need for Saving Hope because, without it, existence is hopeless.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

This poem is dedicated to present-day and future Merchants of Hope:

safe harbor

By Alfonso Wyatt (circa 1986)

if we cannot take love

truly professed to another

then hopelessly we are lost

forlorn sister and brother

cast adrift on a wide sea

sails billowed by hate

evil wind forever blow

a wider void create

can we find together

some shelter from

the storm

rescue the words i love you

a new bound form

this day into forever

we sail this turgid sea

who first speaks the words

find

safe

harbor

in

me