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Each spring there is a sense of hope that moves through the hearts of so many people. There is a sense that this is the year that all the pain of the past will be destroyed and that all the shame of mistakes and falling short will be redeemed. It is the sense that finally, after much work, recovery from injury, getting the right leaders and trusting in the basic fundamentals that this is the year the Cubs will win the Major League Championship.
This sense of hope has moved through the hearts of Cub fans for over 100 years. There is always hope that this is the year the Cubbies, or any team for that matter, will overcome all the difficulties and struggles of the long season in order to stand victorious. And even if they don't, well there is always next year.
As Peter Gomes said in his book The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus:
“Hope is not merely the optimistic view that somehow everything will turn out all right in the end if everyone just does as we do. Hope is the more rugged, the more muscular view that even if things don’t turn out all right and aren’t all right, we endure through and beyond the times that disappoint or threaten to destroy us.”
The thing about baseball fans is there is a sense of hope and not just optimism. These fans don't abandon the team just because they did not preform the way the fan hoped they would have. Fans are not driven by optimism, but by hope. They will turn out even when the team stinks and all hope is lost.
The question for the disciple of Christ in the Easter season is are we just optimistic about the Way of Christ or are we hopeful?