HOPE and PAROUSIA

Hope suggests future. Hope hints at things becoming better than they are both in this life and in the next.
"Yes, I am coming soon," says Jesus Attitude changes everything, we are told. Well, it’s true. To keep on the surface of our everyday thoughts that Jesus could be back anytime, changes our approach to all of life. Doesn’t it stir up excitement? Doesn’t it raise our curiosity about how he will look, what he will say? How will it feel to be flying through the air with thousands of other hardy believers who stuck it out, and meet the One we resolutely declared our leader? How will it feel to have every care stripped away like an old, useless skin? He seals our hope with his words, “Look, I’m coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

HOPE AND SUNDAY

We look for reasons and places to find hope. Here's a bg one. Each Sunday we celebrate. This first day of the week marks a phenomena so spectacular it impacted the entire world. A man whose heart had stopped, whose lungs ceased breathing, whose eyes stopped seeing, ears no longer heard and whose leaden body lay in a stone crypt, suddenly came to life. This event shattered the laws of the universe - once you are dead it’s over. All over. Until you are dead there is hope but not after. Man never had an answer to mortality. But everything in our soul says there’s something to follow death. Earlier, superstitions fabricated all kinds of weird possibilities. Now, with the resurrection of Jesus, hope for existence after this life becomes more than a desire. It is a fixed hope.

HOPEFUL PEOPLE SING

You surprise yourself when you hear yourself singing a happy song when for days you hadn’t felt happy. Where did that come from? Your soul heard some good news. The Spirit communed with your soul, reminding it that despite disappointments, opposition and perhaps even abuse, there is One who knows every detail of your life and will bring good out of bad, beauty out of ashes. Your soul hears that things will change. It decides, almost without your awareness that the future looks bright. Hardships can be borne. Fears are not formidable. Setbacks are temporary. God, after all, is still in control. There are reasons to express gratitude. So give voice to the welling joy - and sing.

HOPE ENCOMPASSES LIFE

With your first breath you hoped.
Reflect on when you knew you began to hope. Was it your first Christmas when you had a specific toy in mind? Or was it when you reached out to make a friend? Or did it hit you when you worried about your report card. Likely it was all of those. But hope begins before we can identify what hope is. Its first sparks show in the hospital when we crave acceptance and love from mother but it saturates our thinking through every age, affects our attitude through each personal encounter, figures in every crucial decision, and encourages us through each crisis. Hope makes life tolerable through every stage and even gives us anticipation for the life to come. Do you think the measure of hope we possess is parcelled out to us at birth, or do we create our hope?

HOPE - A GIFT OR A DETERMINATION

Let's face it, the concept of hope is slippery. How do we actually get hope? Is it something some people inherit or receive at the time of birth? Probably not.It’s absurd to think you can have hope when you don’t want to have it. To that extent possessing anticipation of the future must then be self-willed. Possession, though, is no more than a dream unless you purchase the item; like a car. We must will to have it. Yet, if the car had not been made, if you did not have income that pays you enough, you could not possess the car. Likewise, unless God supplied the hope for an abundant life here and a perfect life in heaven through Jesus, the possibility of hope would be hopeless. BUT. We are left to reach out and accept the gift of hope that God holds out to us. We take the initiative to get hope. So...let's get with it.