It encourages me that you continue to open my emails and read the thoughts I share each week. It gives me a lot of joy to reflect on the Christian story and find points of contact with our lives today.
We have the tendency to buy in to some other story that competes for our attention. One of the most prevalent of these is some kind of doomsday scenario. The times in which we live are fertile soil for such scenarios, whether related to the environment, international politics, global terrorism, crumpling economies, or a host of other issues.
We also construct doomsday scenarios in our personal lives. Sometimes we look at the objective facts of our circumstances and throw up our hands in despair. But Lent invites us back to a more hopeful vision of the future — the future we long to see.
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem to lay claim to that future for us. If he had stayed in Galilee, he could not have secured God’s salvation for us and for the world. When we journey with him, he gives us glimpses of the healed, abundant, peaceful, joyous, transformed future God is preparing for the creation he loves.
Regularly renewing our hope in this future is one of the most fruitful disciplines of the Christian life. During these forty days, we have a wonderful opportunity to see ourselves not only as we are but also as we will be when we are glorified with our Savior. Knowing that God is preparing a future for us that is beyond our fondest imagining helps us immensely as we try to wade through the thicket of challenges we face each day.
May we encounter this glorious future this Sunday in worship!
Lovingly,
Evan Howard,
Minister