HOPE

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“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Psalm 27:14 NRSV.

The theme for Resurrection 2014 was hope. The key verse of scripture was Psalm 27:14 quoted above. As you may notice the word hope is not found in the key verse, but certainly the theme of hope is all through it. Our speaker was Andy Nixon senior pastor of the Loft United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas; incidentally he was, in my opinion, the best speaker we have had for Resurrection. Here are some of my thoughts on what Andy had to say.

Hope is the thing that keeps us going. Our faith in the goodness of God allows us to live hope filled lives even during those times we are struggling to get by. Sometimes keeping hope alive is not an easy thing for us to do.

Twice in this verse the Psalmist tells us to “wait on the LORD.” As a society we do not wait well. We tend to want what we want when we want it and get really impatient when we have to wait. We even upgrade our devices when a newer, faster model comes out. The idea of spending time with God and quietly waiting for God’s guidance is totally foreign to our way of thinking. Busyness has become our idol. In fact often we are so used to multitasking that we feel guilty when we are only doing one thing at a time. To do nothing and simply wait for God seems like a complete waste of time.

Yet when we do that we often are truly blessed. For you see, God’s time is sometimes different than our time. I know that many times I fail when I run ahead of God. So let us wait on the Lord and seek God’s will in all parts of our lives.

Another key element in our verse is the encouragement to be strong and to take heart. One of the great mysteries of faith is that often we are strongest when we are at our weakest point. One reason this is true is that when we think we are strong we assume that we can do it ourselves and God gets pushed aside. On the other hand when we are weak we realize how much we need God’s help. God is always there to see us through whatever we may be facing. It has often been said we stand our tallest when we are down on our knees in prayer.

So always let your heart be filled with hope for when we wait on the Lord, when we know that God’s strength can see us through we never lose heart, we never give up and we can change the world.

Richard

WALKING WITH JESUS

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Luke records an interesting story in the twenty-fourth chapter of his gospel about two disciples who were on their way to the village of Emmaus. This was just after Jesus had been crucified and they were still confused and sad over the events that had happened. I imagine they had based their acceptance of Jesus on the fact that he was the Promised Messiah. Yet now, for them, he was gone! They were defeated!

Then Jesus was walking with them. The interesting thing about this text is that they failed to recognize him. Jesus walked with, he talked with them, and they still did not know who Jesus was.

Many times we are exactly the same way. Jesus promised never to leave us alone. He walks with us, and if we would only listen, Jesus talks with us as well. Yet we fail to recognize Jesus when we encounter him.

However this story ends on a high note. Jesus shares a meal with these disciples. In the breaking of the bread they were able to recognize who Jesus was. Then they remembered how their hearts had been warmed when he shared the scriptures with as they walked along together.

If you are failing to see Jesus, if you think you are traveling the road of life alone, may I suggest this Easter Season you do what these disciples did. Join us for worship where we share the scriptures together. Join us for our Fellowship Meals where we break bread together. Join us at Holy Communion where the Bread of Life is shared together. These disciples felt their hearts burn within them as realized they had been with Jesus. Worship can still do that for you. Join us and see for yourself!

Richard