Thoughts for the Day

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.... For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,
and sing praises to your name’;

and again he says,

‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’:
and again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples praise him’;

and again Isaiah says,

‘The root of Jesse shall come,
the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’

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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

When I was 14, I was invited to stay with relatives in London. I didn't know them well. They were the son and daughter-in-law of my Uncle's first wife who had died, and they had two teenage boys. They were keen to show me around London so we visited a number of places, but the cherry on the cake was to be the last weekend. We were going to see 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'. This hugely successful variety show ran for many years, and I was greatly excited, looking forward to an amazing evening, wearing my grown-up dress, with my new winter coat.

However, on the Friday evening it started snowing, though the snow didn't settle at first. However, slowly during the afternoon the snow continued, and I began to worry if my dress would be warm enough. By the Saturday morning the roads were covered and very slippery. I began to worry about getting to the theatre, but hoped, oh how I hoped, for the best. But the snow continued, and my hope faltered as London came to a halt, and then the show was cancelled! However, unexpectedly my holiday was extended, and I spent another week hoping against hope nothing else would go wrong, before finally seeing the show.

One definition of hope is 'to cherish a desire with anticipation'. That is exactly how I felt all those years ago, and it's how most of us feel as Christians. We have hope based on our reading of scripture (as in today's reading from Paul's letter to the Romans) that the God whom the prophets and Paul talk about is the one who sent His Son to offer us eternal life, and for which we praise Him, and look forward to the coming of His Kingdom.

Heavenly Father,
when life is hard,
and we worry about the future,
fill us with hope,
and help us to
cherish our belief
that You are with us
each day and will
bring us through to a
glorious future.
Amen.