Friday, September 10, 2021
Is it just wood?
Or is it warmth on a cold winter day?
Or is it hope based on God’s gifts, that winter will be blessed in all ways?
Or is it just what would be?
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It is certainly God’s gifts, God’s presence, our help and shield.
Psalm 33:20
Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield.
Romans 8:24
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?
Words of Grace For Today
What do you hope for?
I hope for justice based on truth, which will require that those who lied and gaslit me and their lies come into the light; meaning either their sins be confessed or their sins be exposed, from my ex, to the girls in and out of court, the lay pastor Anne, the church council, the wealthy people who control the church, the RCMP including Murphy, Ward, Jones and Jensen, the lawyers and prosecutors and especially the judges that lied about the testimony provided, the evidence presented, and all the evidence they refused to hear, all to make irrational rulings, convictions and denials on appeals.
This has not been seen, or even a speck of light shone on this corruption and barbarism hiding in plain site as a perversion of a system of law, as justice in Alberta, and as the Grace that the church is supposed to exercise for all people.
That is my hope.
That is my first hope among many things I hope for. The others are mostly for myself and my families: health, security, meaningful work and future dreams that provide purpose for today. Yet everything else pales in comparison to my primary hope for the great, good, and gracious impact this coming to light would make for so many people.
It is still waited for, for apparently only God will make it right, only God as my help and my shield will bring this evil mess to light. As long as the guilty perpetrators still breathe God provides them time for the amendment of life. That would be a victory for God in so many ways. It would be a step toward health for so many people in the family, the community, the church, the courts, and in the province … and far beyond.
So we wait for God to act.
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What do you hope for?
What do you hope for that is unseen?
Will it bring life, health, and grace to bear on many, many people. Or will it simply set a small thing (maybe a huge thing) right in your own life … in your body, mind, or spirit?
Still it is what you hope for … and wait for God to bring to be.
Hope is exactly what God gives to us when God saves us sinners, redeems us, renews life in us, and sends us out into God’s good creation among God’s people to be instruments of God’s grace for all. Hope gives us the heart and mind and soul to see beyond the material things, beyond the human things, and beyond the evil that permeates and perverts life so thoroughly. Hope is the vision of seeing God in all things, in all times, in all places, and in all ways.
God created and is present with us always, promised so in our baptisms. Hope is God’s gift to us, by which we see God present.
Thus we fear
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and love God
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and trust God
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to bring all sin to light, and to perfect all life in us as the saints God makes us to be.
Where will you see God today? For what will you wait for, trusting God’s promises? What will you hope for, so that you can live as God’s Grace for all people this day?