Just when you think you can let your guard down,…Covid cases spike again. I heard it said in the news yesterday that the last pandemic took five years to completely overcome.  I don’t have much hope in our patience and tolerance level. Especially when the fully vaccinated, most diligently safeguarding folks are having “breakout” cases. Mild, yes, but not one hundred percent so.

Again, our will, faith, and resolve are tested. The psalmist cries out, “from where is my help to come? My hope comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth”. Why is our hope not more contagious than the coronavirus? Opinions, theories, and viewpoints explode out of the beehive, torturing and tormenting, until they finally go about their business. We need the collective hope, the source of life that bees produce. (This analogy may break down at any moment. Please just go with it). We choose what we believe, what we adhere to, as life-giving truth. I learned yesterday that 68% of the population of my ministry locale are unchurched. It appears they are seeking other beliefs, other truths. They do not offer the same hope we share in Christ Jesus. The “buzz” is all about what’s trendy. I summon up Hebrews 11:1 again: “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I suppose that until my dying day I will still be trying to convey, to implant that assuring hope, into the minds and hearts of skeptics and seekers. I pray that God will infuse me with the courage to do so by all means necessary. I oftentimes lose sight of how crucial that task is. Keeping in mind the 4 L’s that I keep reminding my parishioners of: listen, learn, love, lead. The order is interchangeable, depending on your encounter.

Hope, if we allow it to be, is a more powerful force than Covid-19. Right now, you may be rubbing your eyes, shaking your head, thinking, “did I really just read that?” Pretty audacious, isn’t it? In the reality of our daily lives, though, we bank on countless episodes of hope. Will water come out of the faucet? Will my car start? Will the lights come on when I flip the switch? We hold scads of hope as stored-up energy. If you are full of  hope, those around you will catch that bee and honey will be produced! This hope is the re-bar in the foundation of our house. It is contagious! Go ahead – spread it around! It is enfolded in God’s unconditional love.

Pastor Art