Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
Daily Scripture and Prayer
February 2022
Last month we considered the patient expectant hope/ trust that we find in the Hebrew Scriptures. This month we move to look at the concept in the New Testament. Here, the words for hope all stem from the same root word that means the happy anticipation of good things. It is not a wish like I hope my cold clears up soon. It has, at its core, deep confidence that God is up to good in even the most distressing circumstances. New Testament hope is a confident trust that God is indeed trustworthy, present, at work and able. New Testament hope is not swayed by circumstances or disappointments because the believer is already living beyond those things in the flow of God’s eternal grace. To hope is to place trust firmly in the one who firmly holds us. It is not wishful thinking. Nor does it mean that we suppress feelings of sadness or even despair. It simply acknowledges that the anticipation of goodness in our lives is warranted. Hope gives hurt boundaries. Pain gives hope context. There is a quietness of heart that arises in a believer when we decide that we want to move beyond our ordinary experience to a grounding that cannot be shaken. This is why hope is often linked to peace and sometimes translated as trust in the Bible.
Feb. 1 – Matthew 12:18-21 – “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.” In today’s verses Jesus puts together several beautiful prophecies from Isaiah to try to get his hearers to understand what he is about and, by extension, what his followers are to be about. Here he shows us that God’s love and justice extend beyond all the boundaries of exclusion of any day. He tells us that justice is for everyone, no exceptions, and that the way to bring it about is with gentle clarity of purpose so that the weak are not hurt even for a positive goal. In the final sentence, Jesus makes a declarative statement that when God’s servant does God’s work, the outsider and despised (Gentiles) will have hope. When we today live as God’s servant according to Jesus’ model, the outcasts who often feel no hope, will, indeed, live in happy anticipation of good things. Sometimes we need to receive hope for ourselves before we can even imagine proclaiming it to others. Today, think about the places where you most need to experience hope. Are there areas of your life that you have despised or denied or not made a priority? How might you live with more balance and wholeness (which is always a part of Biblical justice) today? Just as Jesus shows us here, be gentle with yourself as you reflect. Don’t kick yourself when you are down. Just raise the image of wholeness to mind and allow God to bring the light you need for today.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 2 – Luke 24:21 “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” The Risen Christ is walking along a dusty road with two disciples who are headed home to Emmaus after the heartbreaking and baffling events of the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus. They are completely crushed and confused. Some of the other disciples are even claiming that they have seen Jesus risen from the dead and they do not know what to think. They do not
recognize Jesus as he walks with them, and yet they share with him their experiences and their deep hope, a hope they now think was misplaced, that Jesus would be the longed for Messiah who would set things right on earth and with earth’s empires. It will take a sacramental experience of Jesus, and his profound teaching, for them to realize that he was with them on the journey even when they didn’t know it. Perhaps the specific outcomes of the hope they harbored did not manifest as they dreamed, but they quickly learned that there hope was not frustrated at all. Jesus has come to them, remains with them after his death, and is about the Messianic work of setting up God’s reign within them. Sometimes we, too, can think our hope in God is misplaced when we ask for what we are convinced we need and do not get it. Even in those times when we are crushed and confused, Jesus is with us, walking along our dusty road, teaching and feeding us, whether we recognize him or not. Hope is not a wish. It is a certainty built on trust that God is good and always will be, perhaps even most lavishly, when our plans feel frustrated. Today think for a moment about a time when you felt your hope in God waver or when you trusted for something specific and got something completely different. What did that feel like? Looking back can you see hidden ways that Jesus walked with you and taught you new things as you journeyed? What thought patterns do you need to tame so that you can live with joyful anticipation today?
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb 3 – John 5:45-47 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set you hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
This is the only instance in John’s Gospel where he uses the word for hope. He is using it in a bit of a different way. It is used more like we might use the word allegiance. John most often uses forms of the Greek word for faith or trust when others might use the word hope. In these verses he is speaking to people who are struggling with him and his Biblical interpretations. They are strict conservatives and they are letter of the law literalists. They claim that their allegiance lies in the Law of Moses as they have been taught it. Jesus points out the problem of their narrow perspective. He lives the law fully in a human life. They cannot do that and apparently substitute lip service and defensiveness for transformation. They cannot see what the Law looks like lived because they are caught up in the words and the tradition. Jesus says that they really don’t believe what Moses wrote or it would be different in their lives. Still, he does not accuse them harshly, their own texts do that. Sometimes we, too, can miss the forest for our fixation on the tree. While each tree is indeed precious and has value, it is not the equal to the whole. Take a moment today to step back from the scripture, even the one we are considering, and take a bird’s eye view of the whole of revelation in Jesus. What does God’s law look like in a human life? How do you concentrate on your own perspectives to the point that you can’t see anything new? Where do you really place your hope? What might you need to release to hope for fully?
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb 4 – Acts 2:26 - ‘Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope.” In this verse, taken from Peter’s great speech on Pentecost after the gift of the Holy Spirit, he draws on Psalm 16 to support his case. He is declaring to a bumfuzzled, and sometimes ridiculing crowd, that the experience of Spirit power they have just witnessed is evidence that a whole new kingdom has come. Not only that, the power of God in this new manifestation is personal and close at hand. No longer must people wait and wonder who God is and where they stand with God. Now God is right there with them, upon them. Of course, God’s nearness did not suddenly arrive with the Spirit, but with the Spirit we have new awareness and access to the personal power of God in our lives and communities. Because of that our ethics are glad, our mouths speak only praise and our very bodies and personalities have their life in hope. Hope has become our life’s blood. We are surrounded by Spirit like wind. We are met by Spirit like a dove. We are purified by Spirit like fire. Today, see if you can remember a moment when you felt the power of the Holy Spirit in a special way. Even if it was just for a second, what emotions came up in you? Did you feel lightness or gladness? Did you find that you felt new power to change areas that needed change? Did you feel new energy and expectation in your body? Did you get misty eyed? Were you dumb struck? If you have experienced anything like that, or something totally unique to you, then you have experienced a moment of what it is like to live in hope, to live in joyful expectation and trust for the future, and simultaneous contentment with the present moment. These experiences are our inheritance in Christ. Sometimes they break into the dailiness of life unexpectedly and suddenly. Often, though, they are happening and available all the time but we don’t stop to notice. Today, make a point of stopping and noticing everything around you for a few moments. Don’t judge it. Just notice. If to do list thoughts arise while you are noticing, just put them on the shelf. There will be time for all of that later. You may find that you feel overwhelmed by everything around you when you truly stop and open to it. You may feel a new connection, a new oneness, with all that is around you. You may feel nothing at all. In either case, just the stopping is an act of trusting hope, joyful expectation.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 5 – Acts 16:19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. Paul and Silas are spreading the Gospel in Philippi, a beautiful and robust town in what is now Greece. They have met a number of Godly women who worshipped by the river and one, Lydia, accepted their witness eagerly and invited them to stay with her in her home. One day they were on their way to the place of prayer when they encountered a slave girl with a prophetic spirit that her masters made money from and that Paul thought was demonic. He casts it out and her masters, having lost their cash asset, are none too pleased. They take Paul and Silas to court where they are summarily jailed. The use of the word hope in this verse in interesting. It reminds us that sometimes we can put our hope in the wrong things. Sometimes we can trust the wrong powers. These businessmen had come to trust their wealth. That led them to be comfortable with exploiting a helpless person and to even justify that exploitation. That is hope misplaced with all its attendant degradation. The consequences of misplaced trust often fall harshly on those who call it out and repudiate it,
just as we see in this story. The ones who say no to it are the ones that wind up in jail. We are not told what ultimately happens to the slave owner. We can be certain, though, that somehow or another the scales are balanced. Jesus tells us we reap what we sow. What we know is that miracles come about when we are faithful, place our hope in God, and what is right. God breaks Paul and Silas out of jail and orchestrates an opportunity for witness and conversion in the bargain. Can you think of a time when you put your hope in the wrong thing, a relationship, a job, a bank account, and found that it failed you in the end? Have you ever found yourself defending someone else’s plight because it was to your advantage to keep the status quo? Have you ever kept your mouth shut when you should have spoken up for another person because you were afraid of the consequences? Was there something that woke you up and turned you around? To put our real hope in God sometimes takes a lot of courage. Can you think of a time when you did that? What was the result? Take a minute today to thank God for all you have learned from the experiences of your life.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 6 – Acts 23:6 - When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem even though he knew the dangers that awaited him. He had a financial love offering to share with the impoverished Jerusalem church before he made his way to Rome. His reception by the Jewish establishment was frigid at best, murderous at worst. When he told the story of his ‘conversion’, some found it so dangerous that they stirred up others and he was arrested in the Temple. Like Jesus before him, he was sent from one authority to another. In today’s verse, he has been sent back to the Jewish authorities after the Roman authorities release him because he is a Roman citizen. The issue, at least in Paul’s mind, was his certain hope in the resurrection of the dead. Pharisees believed that some kind of after life was possible. Sadducees did not. So when Paul raises the issue before the council, they, as humans often do, started fighting among themselves. It got so violent that Rome had to step in. For Paul, all of human history pivoted with the resurrection. When Jesus displayed for all to see that unending life is possible, belief or possibility turned into a rock solid hope. The hope of the resurrection can also cause division in our own day. Many people believe, like the Sadducees did, that this life is all there is; that when we die we simply cease to exist. They can be adamant and violent in their opinions just as the ancestors were. But what about us? Can we like Paul, rest our every breath on the rock solid hope that there is no such thing as an end to us? Can we too face the metaphorical gallows with our friends and neighbors as we share with them our hope of eternal life and our belief that it has already begun? Paul will eventually, and not to long after this, die in prison because he staked this life on the promise of unending life. Have you ever had to pay a price for sharing your faith, for standing firm on your hope? Today imagine your hope in the resurrection as a solid unshakeable boulder upon which you stand. What does it feel like to stand on that rock? How does that hope change the way you live today?
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 7 – Acts 24:15 - “I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore, I do my best always to have a clear conscience toward God and all people.” After the riot in the Temple, Paul is put on trial before the Roman Governor, Felix. He has been accused by everybody, especially the religious establishment, of being a ‘pestilent fellow’, ‘an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world.’ Once again when asked to make his defense, it rests on his hope in God, a hope he believes his Jewish compatriots also accept. Paul has many more court appearances ahead of him. He will tell his story before tribunals, governors, councils, kings and even the emperor before all is said and done. Reading the whole story from beginning to end in Acts leaves me shaking my head at what ‘good’ people are willing to do to each other when threatened over their religious perspectives. We know what that is like. We even see what it is like to try to get the secular government involved and taking sides. It was ever thus and ever deadly. Fixating on differences takes up a lot of energy that could be used on forbearance or compassion. Still, there are some issues upon which we can sometimes find we must take a stand. Not to do so would be tantamount to abandoning our faith. That choice, as it did for Paul, can also lead to far ranging consequences and, if not physical death, the death of relationships, institutional connections and more. Can you think of a time when you had to stand on your faith in the presence of pressure or controversy? In that experience did you feel your hope surge or ebb? What were the consequences? Has God given you sweet consolations? Has God renewed your hope? Do you find that you can look forward with joyful expectation more than you look back with bitterness, or regret? Think about the ways that God has brought you through times when you felt you must take a stand and be thankful.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 8 – Acts 26:6-8 “And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” As his court battles continue, Paul finds himself before King Agrippa, once again asked to defend himself against charges of being a disturber of the peace, rabble rouser and a number of other serious charges laid against him by the Jewish authorities. They believe he is a dangerous heretic who does not follow their Law and threatens the peace of the empire itself by the disturbance and violence that erupts around him. He has appealed to Rome, declaring that he has broken no Temple nor Roman law. Once again it seems that the straw that has broken the backs of the Jewish leadership is Paul’s hope in the resurrection of the dead. They cannot agree on it and that disagreement is threatening to divide and devastate the whole Jewish hierarchy. He has lit a match to a fuse that was laid years before, but Paul’s incendiary witness has brought it to combustion. It is not unusual for theological lines in the sand to be drawn with violent consequences. What is interesting is that the division has solidified around Paul’s unwavering hope in eternal life. Paul uses the word hope in two ways in these texts. It is the bedrock anticipation of eternal good. It is also the resurrection itself that becomes hope for him. The empty tomb proves beyond any doubt to Paul that
eternal life is God’s plan, even if it is ultimately mysterious. Hope rests in the resurrection and the resurrection itself becomes our hope. In times of division, both secular and theological, what role does your hope in eternal life play in the daily choices that you make? If, as Paul was, you were asked to tell the story of your hope, what would you say? Take a moment today to think about how hope was planted in you, especially hope in eternal life. Has there ever been a time when you had to defend your faith in eternity to a hostile person or group? What words might you choose to use if called upon to do so today?
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 9 – Acts 27:20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Paul has made his final appeal as a Roman citizen to the highest court in the empire. Upon making that appeal he is sent, under guard, by ship to Rome. A terrible storm besets the ship and they all fear for their lives. Yet they are spared and washed up on the shores of Malta. It is interesting that sometimes it is when all hope is lost that a miracle happens. It is usually a miracle that shifts our perceptions and alters the course of our lives, even if we don’t see that immediately. By being shipwrecked on Malta, Paul is given another venue to preach his message of hope. Can you think of a time when something you hoped for, or a plan that you were certain of, had to be abandoned? What led up to that moment of release? Did you find that God, once you no longer clung to your plan, gave you something new that you never dreamed of before? Thinking about the journey of your life, when were you blown off course by circumstances beyond your control? How did God use that time? How have you experienced a renewal of hope out of a chaotic situation? Perhaps you can think of a time when you were totally lost at sea and did not know if you could make it through your difficulty. Perhaps you can remember a time when you gave up all hope only to find yourself on a new and wonderful path. Perhaps you are in a ‘hopeless’ situation right now. Spend some time today imaging a new hope-filled future. Let that new moment become fully formed in your imagination. Enter into it. Feel it’s power. Then let it go and wait in expectation for God to do what only God can do.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 10 – Romans 4:18 - Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become the “father or many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” Stepping backwards in the life of Paul, we find him writing this letter to the church in Rome from the relative comfort of Corinth. Paul wants so much to visit this church, to teach there, and to gain their support in achieving his greatest ambition of taking the Gospel to Spain. As we have already seen he is arrested and, we believe, dies in house arrest in Rome without making his trip to Spain. Still, in the book of Romans, Paul, while certainly having a sense of foreboding about going to Jerusalem on the way, is full of hope and expectation that he will achieve his goal. The book of Romans, the last of his writings that we have, is complex and unbelievably beautiful. In it he gives words to his hope, his faith and, especially, to how he understands God’s saving work for humanity in Jesus. In this verse,
after making his argument that we are made right with God by God’s grace through faith, he goes back in salvation history to show that that has always been how God has dealt with God’s children. Using the example of God’s call to Abraham, he contends that it was Abraham’s faith in God’s call that led to the rise of the covenant people. It was faith that did its mighty work in the ancestors and faith that does mighty work even today. By laying the foundation of his argument going all the way back to Abraham, Paul reminds us that our faith itself has a history. It is trust in God that makes hope durable. In using this example, he reminds us that when we rely on God’s grace, we too can hope in unimaginable things that are in accord with God’s will. Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children, yet God willed a legacy for them. And God brought it about even when it was unthinkable. Have you ever had a time when you hoped against hope, when you stood on your faith for an outcome that seemed outrageous? Have you ever had a time when you knew that God wanted to use you and you also knew you did not have what it took, but you hoped in God’s word anyway? Have you ever had a time when you said, like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘Nevertheless not my will but yours?’ What was the outcome of that faithful submission? Perhaps today you are hoping against hope for something. Remember that hoping against hope is not for just anything we might want. It is for God to do what God says God will do, and to do it with and for us. Today, spend a moment thinking about what God’s fondest desire is for you and our church. Be specific. Offer your reflections to God to work with. Ask God to deepen your insights and to grow your hope.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 11 – Romans 5:1-2 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. What soaring words these are! Paul has made his case that God’s eternal promise is realized through our faith in Jesus. We stand in a long line of grace and that knowing gives us a special kind of hope. Having been made completely complete by Christ, we now can joyfully anticipate that God will make us like Christ and that we, too, will shimmer with the very glory of God. Our faith fills us with hope, a firm conviction, that God is taking us somewhere and more and more we will share in God’s glory. This does not simply mean God’s splendor and radiance, as it does in some other parts of the Bible. For Paul, God is the one who moves with righteousness upon the earth, and that is God’s glory: the doing of justice, living according to the created plan of goodness, plenty and balance. For human beings to hope in glory is not simply to hope to share God’s power and splendor. It is to share in God’s character. For Paul this glory for human beings will finally be complete in the nearer presence of God in heaven but is put to work in our own lives every day now. We are to act for God as God would act. Can you think of a time when God used you to do a ‘God thing?’ What was that like? What happened? Can you think of a time when you acted for justice or righteousness in your world? How did you feel? What were the results. In this section, (we will explore it further over the next couple of days) Paul tells us that it is our joyful trust that God will use us to do love and justice in our homes and communities. What a promise!
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 12 – Romans 5:3-4 - And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, Paul reminds us that suffering is alchemical. Hardship, and the way we face it, can produce new capacities within us that are hard to come by in other ways. When we face difficulty, confident in the goodness of God, then we often find a deepening quality that we translate here as endurance. The word in Greek is quite active. It means the capacity to persevere and to have a strengthened ability to abide something and with something. It describes an active overcoming, not a quiet resignation. It is much like the old phrase “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Only with this quality, the strength arrives in the midst of the trouble, not as a result of going through the trouble. That enduring capacity carries within it the root system of new and abiding hope. When we face hardship we find the strength to endure it. When we embrace that endurance, we find at its heart a deepened hope that reminds us that we can always expect goodness and joy. Goodness and joy are inevitable because that is who God is. That is why hope is always warranted even when we do not see a positive way through our problems. There is a way because God is the way. Can you think of a time when you felt beset by problems that did not seem to ease? Were there any moments of peace that arose in that time that allowed you to feel a little hopeful? You may not have been able to identify those moments if the situation was really awful, but they were there inside you doing their strengthening work. Can you think of a time when you endured something and found that you got stronger as you went along? Can you see looking back that even when things were awful you were becoming a better more loving person? These verses do not elevate suffering into something that we seek, nor is it something that God sends. They simply tell us that when suffering inevitably comes, God will use it for our good.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 13 – Romans 5:5 - and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 is one long sentence in the Greek. Today’s verse is the powerful conclusion. In the strongest possible language, Paul tells us that our hope is never wasted when we place it in the goodness of God. Hope cannot be wasted. It cannot disappoint us because God’s love has been so lavished upon us that our hearts are brimming with it, filled to overflowing with it, even if we are momentarily blinded to that love by the trials of life. When Paul earlier in the sentence speaks of suffering, his words certainly apply to personal trials and challenges, but more specifically, this word refers to the intense pressure we sometimes feel when we are faced with a choice between the right thing and the wrong thing. This is especially true when doing right can be costly. In situations like that, Paul says each choice for the right increases our capacity to actively endure, creates a Godly character in us and expands the hope with which we can meet each situation. It is the lavish love of God that gives us the power to make right choices and the grace to turn around when have chosen wrongly. Can you think of a time when you felt under intense moral pressure? What was that like? How
did you make your decision? What were the consequences? Did you experience renewed hope in that situation or in reflecting on its aftermath? How do you most often become aware of the love of God for you? Take a moment today to look into your heart and see it as an overflowing vessel, continuously replenished with God’s unconditional love for you and allow that flow to reawaken your hope.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 14 – Romans 8:24 - For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. In this section of Romans, Paul wants his readers to understand that in Christ their status before God has changed once and for all. No longer are we frightened people cowed by our own inabilities and failures in the religious sphere. We are not people who have no standing before God because of our sin or inability to live perfectly holy lives. We are God’s own beloved children. Because of that, we share the divine character. And, with Christ, we are heirs of all the wonder, power and blessings of the realm of God. The preceding verses are filled with the language and symbols of the Exodus. Paul wants us to understand that, in Christ, our exodus was completed. We are no longer slaves to anything. We do not have to labor under the excessive burden of Law, or of sin. For that reason, hope is not a vague wish that something we want might come to us. Hope, for Christians, is the absolute confidence that God will bring about God’s perfect will for us, both now and for eternity. Hope is not based on anything human beings do. Our hope is a fact because of the work that Jesus did on our behalf. We have been made right in the eyes of God and, through the work of the Spirit, we are being made more and more holy each passing day. If we do not yet see the results of that hope in our lives, that is no reason to stop hoping because hope, by definition is rooted in the present with God but also always looking forward to a secure and joyful fulfillment. Can you think of a time when you hoped with all of your being for something that you could not yet see? What role does patience and waiting play in your times of hoping and not yet seeing? Take a moment today to imagine yourself as a beautiful earthenware pitcher. Imagine that you are being filled to the brim and beyond with hope for today and tomorrow. Thank God for the gift of patience in times of waiting.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 15 – Romans 12:9-18 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. This beautiful and practical instruction on the nature of Christian living cannot easily be pulled apart. We could spend an entire month on these verses alone! Still, this month we
are focusing on hope. Suffice it to say of the whole passage, that we do not get to choose among the characteristics of a true Christian and practice the ones that are easiest or most palatable to us. This list of qualities is a whole, not a menu. It is interesting in this passage to see that Paul links hope with rejoicing. A steady conviction that God is good and faithful can certainly lighten the heart and make room for joy in most circumstances. Think of a time when you felt truly hopeful, were you able to rejoice in the hope itself as much as the fulfillment of it? I expect that most of us find that difficult, still, Paul tells us that rejoicing is tied to hope and not accomplishment. Think today about the things for which you hope. Picture those things or situations in your mind’s eye with as much detail as possible. Imagine that, provided this hope is in accordance with God’s will and values, that you are already living in that fulfilled moment. Let yourself feel all of the joy that comes with hope realized. You can feel it now because you know that nothing but the best is heading your way both in this life and the next. So rejoice!
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 16 – Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. In this section of Romans, Paul is trying to help us understand how interdependent we are and how that interdependence means that we have the responsibility to both care for others and insure that our behavior does not become a stumbling block to them. He has just used a section of the Hebrew scriptures to make a point about how Jesus endured insults for the sake of others. In this verse he reminds us that the scriptures themselves can be a source of hope and encouragement as we seek to love and serve others. Studying and spending time with the scriptures reinforces the hope that God’s love lavishes upon our hearts. Do you have a special passage of scripture that helps you experience hope? Do you have a ‘signature’ verse that you go to often? Try memorizing that verse and use it as a prayer throughout the day to awaken the hope that is always within you.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 17 – Romans 15:12 - And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises up to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” By the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul, the good Pharisee, has developed a deep passion for reaching those outside of the Jewish people with the love of God and the hope of joyful life here and for eternity. This is a hard sell to many conservative Jews who have understood for centuries that they had a special status before God that was exclusive. They have believed that Gentiles were the problem and that they stood outside of the fold and should be avoided at all costs. Here, Paul uses the sacred scriptures of Isaiah to remind the people that their prejudices are not shared by God. God is an equal opportunity lover. All people can rejoice in the hope that Messiah brings. Many of us have experienced being shunned by other believers because we did not agree with their interpretations of the scriptures or their priorities for faithful living. Mercifully, God is not bound by the boxes into which we try to contain him. God is
the hope of all people, at all times. That is the basis of Paul’s argument that all should be welcomed into the fellowship of the church. Christ welcomed us so we then share the welcome of God with others. Notice today any time that you can extend welcome to another. Maybe it will be nothing more than a smile behind your mask that reaches your eyes. Still it is important. Think for a moment today about how your church extends true welcome and to whom. Look for opportunities to welcome people into the loving embrace of God all day, everyday.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 18 - Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul closes this section in which he has made his case that the Gospel is for Jews and Gentiles alike, with this amazing prayer blessing. Here he reminds us that God is our hope, its source and its assurance. He prays that we will remember that truth and open ourselves to the gifts of peace and joy that the God of hope offers. You can almost feel Paul’s excitement and his longing for fullness of life for this community of believers that he has never even met! Today, make it a practice to pray Paul’s prayer blessing in this verse for all the people with whom you interact. Pray it for the checker at the grocery store, for the stranger driving by, for your family members, for our church members, for our leaders, for our enemies and those that have caused us pain. One of the most powerful of all prayers is to wish those who have harmed us well. It releases energy blocking resentment and bitterness and replaces those things, bit by bit, with a new compassion and recognition of common humanity. Even pray this blessing for yourself. Take a moment to announce hope, peace and joy for yourself. We can be assured of God’s positive regard of this prayer because we know from today’s verse that it is what God wishes for us always.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 19 – 1 Cor. 9:10 - “Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. Paul is writing to a troubled church in Corinth. They are being torn apart both by theological controversies and personal animosities. They don’t agree and they can’t get along. In chapter 9, Paul is trying to help them think through what it means to be free in Christ. In the previous chapter, he addresses a particular controversy about whether it is acceptable to eat meat that has been offered to idols. Paul basically says, that the meat can’t hurt a person but that it shouldn’t be eaten if it hurts or scandalizes someone else, if it causes their faith to weaken. In this section he continues to deal with the consequences of freedom and the choices we make to limit our freedom for the good of others. We see this same conflict in our day with covid precautions. I saw photo of a man with a sign that said ‘My freedom is more important than your health.” He was wearing a cross. The struggle between freedom and the common good is ancient and contemporary indeed. In these verses, Paul’s teaching of forbearance has met with a storm of controversy. To the point that some doubt his authority completely. The congregants think that they are
so mature in faith that they can do things that might not be possible for lesser folk. Paul uses a number of examples of things that he himself might have had a right to but did not do for the good of the whole, like take a salary. In this verse he uses scripture from Deuteronomy in order to reinforce that people have rights to expect benefit from their labor. Still, there are times when we lay aside benefit for the sake of the needs of others. In the final analysis his true hope does not lie in his rights, but in the God of love that calls him to a life of love in which no rights can be claimed if not for the common good. Think today about what ‘rights’ you might need to set aside for the common good? Are their activities or attitudes that you need to set aside? Are there any sacrifices you might need to make in order that others may see your love more clearly? Sink into the hope that is the core of your life and reflect today on how others feel when they are around you, how others grow when they are around you, how others see God when they are around you. Focus on those things and let them grow stronger in you today.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 20 – 1 Cor. 13:13 - And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. Again, speaking to a church that is struggling to find its center and its balance, Paul ends his crowning chapter on the nature of Christian love by highlighting the three great marks of the Christian life. The word faith means trust. It’s not a head thing. It is a whole of life reliance upon God as revealed to us in Christ. That reliance produces a steadfast hope that knows that it knows that it knows that God is good and God is working good for us and the whole created order for all eternity. That faith and hope, must of necessity, issue in love. The love word here, agape, is not a feeling it is a choice, an ethic. Agape is choosing at all times to be on the side of the beloved, to choose the good for the beloved. And if that is not tough enough with those we like and feel affection for, agape is extended to all those that God loves, all of God’s children. Faith coupled with hope are the only things powerful enough to unleash lasting and ethical love in this world. When we trust God and root ourselves in what God is doing in us and in the world, then love flows from us. If we trust God and hope in God, how could we not choose the loving action for God’s children? If we trust God and hope in God, is there anyone that we could claim to be outside our sphere of care and concern? I don’t think so. When we experience faith, hope and love a strange thing happens inside of us. Our dualities disappear, or at least get very blurry. No longer do we see enemy versus friend, liberal versus conservative, Protestant versus Catholic, gay versus straight, rich versus poor, powerful verses powerless. Those distinctions have no meaning at all because we experience our oneness with all others as siblings, as God’s own family and God’s own home. Can you think of a time when the feeling of oneness dawned on you in a special way? Can you imagine what might change if all the lines drawn were erased by faith, hope and love? Take a minute today to imagine. Try to look at the world and the people in it with the lens of faith, hope and love as your glasses. What do you see when you see the world that way?
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 21 – 1 Corinthians 15:19 - If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. Here Paul is making his case for the centrality of the resurrection to Christian faith. Granted it is an incredible claim and even some in Corinth are not too sure about it. They think that the value in Jesus is his example of what a fully human ethical life is like. Or else the think that the cross was complete and the resurrection was a fantasy to deal with grief. Paul, however, believes that the resurrection is the cornerstone of what God does for us in Jesus. In it we are given the gift of seeing that we have become eternal beings. It is the ground of his hope. Death in the ancient world was considered the great enemy of both God and faith. Life expectancy was short and people feared death as the end of everything. Paul again and again pulls his readers back to a central truth: life goes on. Without that hope, the faith is based on a lie and the people who have died in the faith have died in vain. Whether you believe in a literal resurrection or a spiritual one, or some other kind that we can’t yet grasp, for Christians our hope is planted in it. The empty tomb is our assurance that our hope is warranted. Paul says that if we only hope in Christ for what we think Christ can do for us in this life, then we are pitiful indeed. God’s love for each of us cannot be limited in any way, not by death, not by time, not by space, not by sin, not even by all eternity. As Paul says earlier in chapter 13. Love never ends. And neither do we.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 22 – 2 Cor. 1:7 - Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation. In this letter to the church in Corinth, apparently both Paul and the people are undergoing great hardship and persecution. The church is experiencing trouble and pressure from within and from without. They have written to Paul asking for guidance. He responds with great compassion as one who knows trouble well himself. Here he urged them to hold fast to their faith and not let their circumstances shake it. He reminds them that endurance will bring its rewards and that comfort always comes. In this verse, he tells them that nothing that is happening can shake the hope he carries in his heart for them. He is certain that all will be well. As the psalmist says, ‘weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.’ Paul knows from experience that when trouble comes, God always moves to touch, hold, heal and redeem. Can you think of a time when your faith was shaken by hardship? What was that like? How did God minister to you in that time, even if you could only see it looking back? Take a moment today to make a list of all the ways, large and small, that God has consoled you over the years. Read over that list and add to it throughout the day. Allow each consolation, whether it was a warm cup of tea or an unexpected windfall, to strengthen your spirit and deepen your hope.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 23 – 2 Cor. 1:10 - He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. We don’t know the exact nature of the peril that Paul mentions here. We
know that it happened in Asia and that he despaired of his life. Whether that was a physical illness, or persecution or both is lost to us. What we do know is that in that ordeal he once again experienced deliverance. The experience of rescue deepens his hope that God will again rescue in time of trouble. It is dear here to see how the prayers of the faithful are used as an avenue of blessing, comfort, and aid of every sort. Can you think of a time when the prayers of others gave you renewed hope? Take a moment to think about those times right now. How does your own life of prayer increase your hope? Throughout the day, stop for a moment and pray for your family members and church family members by name. Know that as we each do this, each of us will be surrounded in prayer. Lean into the comfort of knowing you are being held up to God in prayer and offer whatever your need is today to God in hope.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 24 – 2 Cor. 3:12 – Since then we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, In this chapter Paul uses a remarkable image perhaps better understood in the ancient world. It is the image of letters of introduction. In those days when people went to a new community they took letters of introduction from those who knew them well that contained a look at their character and trustworthiness. Earlier in the chapter, Paul says that we are Christ’s letters of introduction. How people accept or reject Christ depends on what they see in us. He goes on to say, lest we lose hope in the presence of the enormity of the authority we’ve been given, that Christ himself writes his letter of introduction in our lives and through our lives. That is the hope he refers to in this verse. It is the hope that Christ is working through us, that Christ is showing himself to the world in us, that gives us the courage to act with boldness so that the love of God can be welcomed. We each have a role in showing the world who Jesus is and what that means for the people and times in which we live. The character that Jesus builds in us over the years as we work through good times and challenging times, and the love that shines through it, is our greatest evangelistic tool. People do not join a church. They join a people in which they see something of the grace of God. As you go about your day today, notice how you show Christ’s love. Ask God to write a bold love letter with your life and to fill you to overflowing with hope.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 25 – Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. Again, Paul is frustrated with one of his churches. The church is Galatia is struggling with the notion of unearned grace. They can’t get beyond thinking that they must do something to curry God’s favor and to be counted as righteous. Many think the best way to handle their discomfort is to require new converts to become Jews before they become Christians. This would mean that they would be circumcised and adhere to the Law of Moses. Paul, while circumcised himself and understanding the role of the Law, finds this logic horrifying. If these practices continue, he fears that peopled we fall right back upon themselves for salvation and miss the fundamental revelation of salvation by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus. Paul believes that by faith the Spirit of Christ does a
continuous work of transformation in us. While salvation is once and for all, righteousness is done in us by the Spirit day in and day out. In this verse he reminds us that we can, due to the Spirit’s work in us by faith, count on our transformation into righteousness. We can hope in its fullness. We can live it out day by day. Can you think of a time when you felt that you were truly changed by the Spirit through faith? Can you think of areas of your life now that still need Spirit’s changing touch? Offer these thoughts to God in prayer throughout the day and trust that God is doing a good work in you. If you have a role to play, God will let you know. Otherwise, eagerly wait for what God will do in you!
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 26 – 1 Peter 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Peter begins his letter in the way most Greek letters began in the first century. He identifies himself and then identifies those to whom he is writing. The first recipients of this letter were from a collection of churches in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. He begins by reminding them of the characteristics that mark them as disciples of Jesus. In today’s verse he tells them, and us, that we are the recipients of mercy which has allowed us to be reborn into people of unlimited and unending hope. In specific, he is talking about the hope that we have in Christ that we will share with him life eternal. He is telling us that we are now a part of a new family and because of that, we can expect a mighty inheritance. The phrase ‘kept in heaven for you,’ does not just mean that we will receive blessing after we die. Rather, this is a phrase that means that the inheritance we have is immune to disaster. In other words, nothing that happens to us or around us, can damage it. Have you ever received an inheritance? How did that feel? Do you still have the items you received? Are some of them gone now? As wonderful as it is to be remembered by our family or friends with a legacy, everything that we have is perishable. Peter wants us to remember that no matter what we may gain or lose in this life, our true inheritance of hope and eternal life cannot be lost, broken, stolen or damaged. It is sure and certain, completely complete even now. It is our job, then, as heirs of Christ, to live as beloved and trusted children. Today, take a moment to think about what you might want to leave behind at the end of your earthly life. What is most precious to you? In addition to material items, how might you begin now to sow the seeds of the gift of God’s eternal grace in those with whom you come into contact? Ask God to open new avenues for you to share your hope and joy by word or deed today.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 27 – 1 Peter 3:15 - but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; Peter is concluding his comments about how Christians are to relate to a pagan world where many do not share their hope and few share their faith. He has told them not to be harsh, not to retaliate when they are treated poorly. Rather they are to search for ways to
bless those who are persecuting them. He tells them that they will eventually be vindicated and that rather than entertaining fear in their hearts they are to focus instead on Christ and to search diligently for more and more opportunities to serve and follow. As they banish fear and bring Christ more and more to the forefront of their lives, they are to be prepared to explain to others the reason for the hope that they have. This may refer to a formal trial, but probably refers more generally. Can you think of a time when you were asked to explain to someone why you were hopeful when circumstances did not seem to warrant it? What did you say? If that has never happened to you, imagine it now. What would you say if asked to give an accounting of the hope that is in you? Take a minute now to write down your thoughts and thank God for filling you will hope today and every day.
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Feb. 28 – Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The letter to the Hebrews was initially a long sermon based on the Psalms that was circulated among house churches in and around Jerusalem. The unknown author is well versed in the Hebrew scriptures and theology and spends much of the text making the case for Jesus as messiah. Among the most pressing issues facing the listeners was losing heart in the face of opposition and getting bored when spiritual highs wore off. People wanted to see results and they wanted to feel the goosebumps of spiritual experience. But sometimes progress was slow and sparkling moments were few. In today’s verse the author reminds us that it is our faith itself that assures us of the fulfillment of all our hopes. Not seeing results doesn’t mean that nothing positive is happening. Trust in God, that is the ground of all durable hope, is not swayed by our time tables or even by the shape we are sure our fulfilled hopes will take. Rather, leaning into God is in and of itself, an assurance that our hopes are warranted and secure. Think today about all the things you hope for, personally, for the church, for others, for our world. As these hopes surface in your mind, take a moment to say thank you to God for all that God is doing to fulfill your hopes, even if you see no evidence of it yet. Faith and hope’s favorite food is gratitude. Both grow stronger the more grateful we are. So today, say thank you for all the things you hope for. Don’t focus on them as things that you lack, but rather as gifts that are on the way at the right time and in just the right way!
Prayer: God of Hope, help me today to live in joyful anticipation of good things, knowing that you are trustworthy and you have my back. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.