Communion july 23'
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Are there any of you here needing more hope in your life?
If you try going to the news, sadly you are likely not going to experience it.
Headlines from yesterday on just 1 google search:
“New York architect charged with murder in Long Island Serial killings”
“Alabama woman missing.”
“more smoke coming to the US from Canadian wildfires”
and those were the headlines that weren’t about politics.
After 2 minutes of scrolling headlines, my computer browzer had a pop-up for pills to relieve stress. (haha).
Hope is not found in headlines.
Even while Jesus was sharing with his disciples at the Last Supper, He was still offering hope.
Jesus shared hope to his disciples, whose thoughts were on other things, ranging from, who was the greatest among them, how to force Jesus’ hand and become king, to doubting Jesus altogether.
Their thoughts were not where they were supposed to be, even as Jesus had washed each of their feet.
Jesus did say:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Jesus said to them
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
One of the beautiful things we can be reminded of and take hope from, is no matter what awful headline we read about. No matter how much the devil works to make this world a terrible place, we can have hope. For whatever counterfeit creation the devil generates, God still has the original. No matter the tragedy and chaos the devil may incite, God can still revive, reshape, restore, and even repurpose.
I was reading in Romans 5 the other day and was blessed by these words.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
What the devil would use to glorify himself, God in his love and power showed his grace and forgiveness is extended to us through the shedding of his blood.
Jesus counted you worthy. For that reason we do this, we break bread, drink juice, wash feet. We do it in remembrance of Him.
and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”