September 21, 2009
GOD'S PLAN - OUR HOPE
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

This is the first verse of our 2009 Stewardship theme based on Jeremiah 29:11-13. God's plan - our hope. My sister gave me a framed calligraphy of these verses a few years before I came to Calvary. It was during the darkest period of my life, a time of betrayal and loss, pain and anger. I didn't know it then but it turned out to be a prophetic word for me and as God's plan unfolded in my life I could see how my sister's gift was a gift from God.

And while it might seem that the gift is in the prospering it always begins in the hope, hope that God will be present no matter what happens, hope that we are not alone because sisters, and brothers for that matter, care about us and pray for us and when we are unable because of life's circumstances, hold our hope for us. When you've been gifted in such a way the only response is to be a gift to someone else

September 22, 2009
WATCH, WAIT, HOPE
I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Micah 7:7-8

Hope in the Lord is not a wish that things will get better. Hope is a patient confidence, a firm conviction, a willing trust that our circumstances, whatever they might be, will not have the last word, will not define our future. It is when our everyday is a dark as the storm clouds this morning that hope speaks defiantly "Do not gloat over me!" For I will rise and the darkness of this day will be banished by the light of the Lord. Watch, wait, hope. The Lord hears. The Lord will act.

September 23, 2009
YOU ARE LOVED
You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we HOPE. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:4-6

The only thing that counts? I am, and I suppose always have been, conscience of all the ways I do not measure up to standards set for me or ones I set myself. In the past this led me to give up trying and settle into complacency and apathy. Now it seems I'm caught up in over achieving, over extending, over compensating. I don't think I'm the only one. So here is hope for the day. In Christ Jesus we are loved as we are. Life is not to be lived in proving something to others or ourselves but expressing the grace of God by loving. And maybe the first person that needs loving today is you. So speak to yourself the baptismal blessing. "Child of God you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever." Or in other words - You are loved.

September 24, 2009
ALL DAY LONG HOPE
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my HOPE is in you all day long.
Psalm 25:4-5

Show me, teach me, guide me? The hope of which the psalmist sings is not the power of positive thinking or a glass half full, silver lining in every cloud theology. The all day long hope does not depend on believing things will get better or that it could be worse. The all day long hope is hope in God my Savior, not in myself or my abilities, and as God my Savior never changes this hope is not affected by what happens to me or what doesn't or any of the vagaries of life. And how does one get such hope? Show me, teach me, guide me. The object and source of all day long hope is the same. My God and my Savior. May you have such hope all day long.

September 25, 2009
THE GOD OF HOPE
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

The God of Hope. Not a bad way to think of the Almighty, Immortal, Invisible God. A God of Hope. And what might God hope for? If the incarnate Christ of the cross gives us any clue God hopes for you. For your peace and joy. That peace and joy comes from trusting God is for you and not against you. Trust producing peace and joy allows Holy Spirit hope to spill out of our lives and into the world. So here at the end of the week I pray for you, my dear people of God at Calvary. May you know overflowing hope whether you face issues unresolved, tasks still to be checked off, bills left to pay, health still not good, relationships in need of mending, questions left unanswered, or the opposite, life generally good and pleasant and free from strife. In every and all circumstances I pray you are filled if only for a moment with peace and joy as the God of Hope overflows in you.

Statement of Our Faith