The Paradox of Hope

The story of Christ coming into the world is a story of hope. One hymn beautifully says that God “wrapped our injured flesh around Himself,” so that we might receive the hope of life, salvation, and resurrection. Jesus is truly our living hope.

Yet the hope Jesus brings is, in many ways, paradoxical. In our world—and in our senses and experience—we see people born, live, and die. Even Christians, who believe differently, struggle to look beyond the finality of death. Death feels stark and absolute, like the end of a trilogy we’ve read to the last page. Many people believe that after life comes only emptiness and nothingness. You are born, you live, you die, and then you are gone. So where, then, is hope?

Hope is in the person of Jesus, born on that first Christmas. For the Christian, we are born into this world, but when we encounter Jesus, we are offered a life-changing, life-giving choice. We can continue as we always have and eventually reach an ending without hope. Jesus said, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it” (Matthew 16:25a). We cannot give, save, or create life on our own. But Jesus continued, “If you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”

When Nicodemus asked Jesus how to have eternal life (John 3), Jesus answered plainly: “You must be born again.” To truly live, you must die to yourself. To find eternal life, you must be reborn—raised into a new life with Christ and gathered into the company of all the saints.

This sounds strange at first, but it is the very heart of the Christian faith: we die to self so that Christ may live in us. As we surrender ourselves, His life begins to shape our own. We become who we were truly made to be—exactly the person God designed when He created us. Playwright John Guare put it beautifully: “It is amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterdays.”

A judge once told a young man for whom I was pleading, “Your past casts a long shadow.” Despite our appeals, the judge sentenced him to four years in jail. Perhaps the judge delivered justice, and perhaps the young man hoped for mercy. But Jesus offers something far greater: grace. While earthly judges remind us of our past, Jesus declares, “I have cast your sins as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). God Himself says, “I will remember your sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

So—what will you choose? The world’s view that you are born, live, and die? Or Jesus’ view: that you are born, you die to self, and then you truly live?

As for me, I place my faith, my life, and my hope in the God who forgives, forgets, and saves.

His Love Endures Forever

Psalm 136 is an obvious choice as we enter this season of Thanksgiving.  There are 26 verses.  The 1st verse says, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good ... His love endures forever."  Every subsequent verse expresses a reason for giving thanks.  And each verse (all 26) includes the proclamation, "His love endures forever!"  

Dr. Tim Tennant writes, "Psalm 136 was obviously written for a public act of worship."  Dr. Tennant goes on to remind us that the "love" expressed in this Psalm is not the emotion of love, which we seem to revere.  It is, rather, the continued, repeated, consistent action of love expressed by God throughout the history of the Hebrew people.  In short, God has promised (in covenant) to love His people, and has carried out that love in mighty acts.  God's love means business!

Sunday, we will share that act of worship as we begin and end the service with this Psalm, read responsively.  We will consider this Psalm as we read it in the community of worship.  We will hold it in our hearts as we leave the Henry County Courthouse lawn at 3:30pm and travel to Abbeville High School. Abbeville Christian Academy, Abbeville Elementary School, Abbeville Boys and Girls Club, and the Abbeville/Henry County Governmental Complex.  We will share this time of Thanksgiving as we join in worship at 5pm in the Abbeville Methodist Church Sanctuary and worship, testify, pray, sing, and live in the light of Jesus together.  We will thank the God who provides as we gather to break bread at 6:15pm in the Abbeville Methodist Family Life Center.

Other things will also happen this Sunday.  We will miss our football games ... or will we (how can we be sad if something eternal happens to displace something temporal)?  We will miss our Sunday afternoon rest ... or will we (in Scripture, rest means completion/fulfillment, and we will be completed in our participation)?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good ... His love endures together!  AMEN? AMEN!

The Great Divide

My major in undergraduate school was geography.  That is a far cry from what I do now, but the degree did prepare me well for my secular job as a municipal planner.  There are lots of applicable disciplines that relate to geography as a science, including demography, sociology, and statistics.  But that work happened decades ago, and I have moved on from that life.  However, every once in a while, some subject comes back into mind that relates both to that life and the life of a pastor.

Last week I was thinking of a Kate Wolf song called, The Great Divide.  It is a wonderful song that would be fitting for a folk music concert or a campfire.  For today, however, I want to focus on the geographical term and the spiritual concept.  There is a line, running North to South, from Canada through Mexico, called the Great Divide. It is the line, roughly tracking the highest elevations in the Rocky Mountains, where water drains either East toward the Atlantic and the Gulf, or drains west to the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.  But there is another Great Divide.

We have been (this is the last week) reading the Nicene Creed.  There is a sense that this, and the Apostle's Creed,  are lines of separation.  We either believe the Biblical foundation of the creeds (who God said He was in Father, Son, and Spirit) or we believe some other extra-Biblical source.  In layman's terms, we (in the Global Methodist Church and in other Orthodox denominations) believe the Bible and the early Church Councils, are correct.  Why is this important?

Last week, we read from the Book of Joshua.  In Joshua 24:14-15, Joshua realizes that our focus on foundational, Scriptural, beliefs defines who we are and how we interact with our world.  Joshua renews the Covenant between the people and God at Shechem.  He gathers all the tribes and leaders of Israel and makes a proclaimation that is truly the Great Divide.  In verse 15, Joshua announces, "Choose this day whom you will serve ... whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  It was a watershed moment.  A time of both division and unity.  Would the people flow in the direction of the Lord, or will they flow into the sewer of the culture?  Belief is important.  Belief is upheld by the word of God, the power of the Spirit, the person of Christ, and the blessing of the Father.  Choose this day whom you will serve!  

The Land

In Joshua, Chapter 1:2, God tells Joshua, "The time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them."  Later in Chapter 1, Joshua, at the instruction of the Lord, tells the people to "take possession" of the land.  I wonder if this is God's same instruction today?

First, what is "the land?"  The land is any place that God sends His people, under His instruction and authority, to possess.  It is the hearts of unbelievers.  It is the land upon which our church and our facilities are located.  It is a nation that seems so focused on political solutions to our problems that we miss the spiritual battle being waged all around us.  It is taking this day for the Lord ... living it out with God's guidance, leading, Spirit, and blessing.  Joshua is told that the land is anywhere he sets foot IF he follows God's instructions.

Second, in this month of giving thanks, God reminds Joshua that the land, the power to enter the land, and the power to take the land are gifts/blessings from God.  Joshua, the army of Israel, and the ability to fight, all come from the God who ultimately leads them.  They are just a large group of nomads without God's provision.

Finally (and I love this) possession of the land follows action.  The people are told to take the land.  Joshua is told that he must "set foot" on the land.  The nation of Israel is told they must "cross the river."  God's power, provision, and blessing are all there, just waiting for people who say, "yes!"

You may ask, "What does this have to do with me?"  We are a nation of passivity.  I am told, often, the things WE need to do.  But doing them seems to fall by the wayside, as business takes over our lives.  So ... here are some ways we can "take the land,"

1. If you are part of a team that leads your church, meet with the team and participate in the meeting.  Step into the river, and the waters will part (Joshua 3:8).

2. Never, ever, say those powerless words, "I can't do that!" if God has called you to do something.  Those words are narcissistic!  They imply that YOU are responsible for doing what God has ordained.  Just step into the water (as the old song says).

3. Let's all be the adults in the room.  One of the sports programs I watch often remarks that the leadership trait most sought in professional sports (this includes management and players alike) is the trait of being an adult.  Adults see the larger picture of the organization that is larger than them.  Adults listen, interact, and don't seek to manipulate others.  Adults are not passive-agressive in how they interact with others.  Adults give positive suggestions and respond positively to others in their group.  Adults are teachable and interested in personal and organizational growth.  Adults enter every meeting, every interaction, and every relationship asking, "How can I be used by God to make this meeting, interaction, and relationship better?"  Adults keep their eyes on the mission, and are active in "taking the land."  Adults don't allow emotions to drive them, and never "take their toys and go home."  

I have (in our Family Life Center) a stone carved with the words, "With God nothing is impossible."  Do you believe that, because Jesus said it?  Let's take the land, one step and one action at a time.  It starts with crossing the river of doubt, emotion, fear, failure, self, and childish behavior.  Joshua knew the Jordan was more than a river ... it was a place where attitudes needed to change.  TAKE the land.  God has already given it!  Randy