The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Psalm 77:1-12, 19-20
- Romans 5:1-5
- John 14:25-31
The Sermon title is Remember, Lament, and Hope
Early Thoughts: When you contemplate the world, when you meditate on the past and the present, what makes you lament? What brings you hope?
I am somewhat fascinated by this Psalm reading. What is the psalmist feeling as they write these words? Are they feeling that God is absent? Do they wonder if God has abandoned the nation? It seems so. And yet the 'cure' that they choose is to remember and contemplate what God has done for God's people. It seems that they find hope there.
There are lots of reasons we might choose to lament as we look at the world. Every generation has people who wonder if God has abandoned the nation. Every generation has people who lament that the people have wandered from the path of God's wisdom. What do we do then?
We remember the glorious gift:
We are not alone. We live in God's world...In life in death, in life beyond death. God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God.
We may well need to lament about many things but we also need to remember that God is there. We need to be honest that the world is not what we want it to be but we also remember that we are help in the faithful, trustworthy love of God. In John's Gospel Jesus reminds us to not let our hearts be troubled nor to be people of fear. In that is our hope.
Our hope is not in the world. Our hope is in the faithful trustworthy God. Our hope is in the gift of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who continues to teach us and remind us of the promise of the Reign of God.
--Gord
No comments:
Post a Comment