The sun is just rising on a seasonably cold morning. My heart is warm as I begin this day with gratitude to God for my marriage, my ministry and my life. Twenty nine years ago today we were in Omaha, preparing to be married. Audrey and I went out last night to celebrate with dinner and a double feature at the movies. We paid twice and saw two movies – Man on a Ledge and Red Tails. We enjoyed them both.
Today I will prepare for the next several days. In addition to worship tomorrow, I will lead a session of igniting leaders at 4:30 preceded by the first Staff Parish meeting of the year. Both of these will be assisted by Doug Anderson our HCI coach. On Monday he will help us with our Sunday Morning task force and the first meeting of the Building Study Committee. Today I will also prepare for the Board of Ordained Ministry interviews coming up this week. I have written materials and video worship sermons submitted by candidates to review. I will run today and get to bed early.
Revelation 21-22
It is so exciting for me to read the last two chapters of the Bible. The apostle John writes about his vision of the new heaven and the new earth, and the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down. The angel showed him “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit…” (Rev 22:1-2)
As I wrap us this sermon series on the questions of Why, my goal is to inspire and to instill hope in the hearers that indeed the love of God prevails. Hope is such a key ingredient for this human life. “Hope gives us the courage to confront our circumstances, and the capacity to surmount them.” (Dr. Jerome Groopman in The Anatomy of Hope, quoted by Hamilton, p. 97) Without hope, life is fruitless. Without hope, people jump off buildings, ruin their marriages, get high on drugs. There are two kinds of hope – hope for this life, and hope for eternity.
The writer of Revelation, John the Apostle, is writing during a time in which Christians were being fiercely persecuted, tortured, fed to the lions, burned to death. To be a Christian was not to anticipate a healthy, respectable prosperous life in the here and now. So the book of Revelation was a tool to inspire followers of Christ to hold on, to preserver, and to anticipate heaven with the hope that God triumphs over evil and people who have trusted in Christ for salvation will have their good deeds rewarded.
Guide me holy Lord as I preach and teach and inspire in the next few days. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness!
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