Hope
Faith Development
Saving Grace
Another Look At The Word And The Sacraments
The original context of this passage was the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews. It was a letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. In 586 B.C., they were captured by Nebuchadnezzar and deported to a foreign land. They were defeated, discouraged, depressed, and dislocated. Jeremiah predicted that after seventy years in Babylon, God would restore them to good fortune and return them to the Promised Land. "I have plans for you," God says, "plans to give you hope and a future."
The original context of these words was the captivity of God's people in ancient Babylon. But there is an additional context for these words of hope: your life and mine.
Conflict comes. Troubles. Feelings of estrangement. A longing for some unknown home. We seem to be captives of something -- demonic forces too strong for us, demonic forces around us ... within us. We are captives, each and every one of us.
God's word applies to us as well as to the ancient Jews to whom it was written. Like them, we have our times of defeat, discouragement, depression, and dislocation. In such times we are ready to give up. Why try? we ask in the innermost parts of our souls. How can we sing songs of hope when we are in a foreign land?
The Jews in captivity felt the same way. Can you identify with their pathos, their longing, their groaning?
By the rivers of Babylon --
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How could we sing the LORD's song
in a foreign land? -- Psalm 137:1-4 (NRSV)
In this context of sorrow the people of God remembered the message from God. "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." In our times of sorrow, we too can remember a word from God with our names on it. The message reads: "I have plans for you. Hope again. I have a future for you."
It is precisely at these low times, when we feel like hanging our happiness on the weeping willows, that God's word can give us hope. It is precisely at times of dislocation that we can discover that our true home is with our heavenly Father. We are in a far away country. Yes, but those who know they are lost really listen when God calls.
When our strength gives out, we can discover the invitation to come home through Jesus Christ. In Christ there is strength from God. It is precisely at these times that we discover for the first time, or perhaps rediscover, what it means to be a child of God for whom Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died for us when we were sinners and deserved nothing but punishment. He died so we can return home to God.
It is precisely at the darkest moments of dislocation when there seems to be no hope and we hit rock bottom that we can discover the Rock of Ages. The worst time sometimes becomes the best time because in the worst time we can learn to depend entirely on God, not ourselves. In the worst time we can discover grace, God's gift to sinners. God's grace is for you. It restores you to your journey home.
A man recently told me that he was weeping uncontrollably at the grave of his father when the pastor read these words, "... Here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14). "Changed my life," he said. "Got my mind relocated on the heavenly home God has prepared for those who love him. This world seemed so important until I began to think, really think, about the world to come. That's when I woke up to the reality of God. It was a defining moment."
When the bottom drops out and depression steps in and takes control, remember these words, "I know the plans I have for you ... a hope and a future." When demonic forces take you where you don't want to go, remember Babylon was such a place, a passage point on the way back to Zion. In New Testament terms, Calvary was just a brief stopover on the way to freedom. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang onto these words from God: "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you."
Babylonian Captivity is not a good place to be, but it is only a temporary dislocation on the way back to the Promised Land.
God sends us a message from eternity. "I have plans for you ... and a future." Hope can be restored if we believe this message. Hope is to the soul what oxygen is to the body. We really can't live without it. Hope springs eternal when we turn to the Eternal One. When we come to Holy Communion, we turn to the Eternal One.
When we come to Holy Communion we receive a foretaste of the feast to come in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, hope turns to sight. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Hear these words of hope: "This is the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you." We live in a fallen world, but we receive a word from on high: "I have plans for you. I have hope for you. I have a future for you." In Holy Communion we taste the kingdom bread, the bread of heaven. We taste "tomorrow's bread" today.24
We live in this world, but we are not of this world. We belong to the Lord. Our eternal home is with God. In, through, and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion we get a preview of coming attractions. Therefore, though we live in a fallen world, we can have hope.
Saint Paul speaks of hope in the context of the fallen world. He puts it this way:
... The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. -- Romans 8:21-26
Saint Paul goes on to encourage us to believe the Scriptures and have hope in God.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. -- Romans 15:4
Then Saint Paul offers us a benediction of hope.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -- Romans 15:13
Grace watched as Pastor Jeff closed the Bible on the pulpit and took his seat. The church was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Grace was thinking, "Dad just died. He wasn't perfect, far from it, but he was still my dad. Now I must go on without him. Is it possible that I could actually get a new Father?"
When it came time for Holy Communion, Grace went forward with Mary. She listened and watched carefully. She knew she couldn't receive Communion yet since she had not been baptized, but Mary had urged her to come forward for a blessing. She heard the pastor bless a child next to her, saying, "Remember your Baptism." Then it was her turn. She bowed her head. The pastor put his hand on her head, came close to her ear and said, "Remember, Grace, Jesus died for you on the cross, to set you free."
Jesus died for me on the cross. Why have I struggled against accepting it? Why have I doubted so much? Why have I been so unwilling to trust God? Can I really accept the fact that Christ accepts me when I am unacceptable? I'm afraid that would change me. Wouldn't that change be for the better? Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope. Hope in God.
For the benediction that day, Pastor Jeff used Romans 15:13. "May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Questions For Personal Consideration
And/Or Group Discussion
1.
Do you plan ahead a lot or do you generally make decisions on the spur of the moment?
2.
What are the benefits of these two different styles?
3.
What difference did it make to the Jews in exile in Babylon that God had a plan for their future?
4.
What difference does it make for you that God has a plan for your future?
5.
What difference does it make that God has a plan for your church?
6.
What difference does hope make in the life of a person or a church?
7.
Does God actually allow U-turns?
Digging Deeper
1.
In the Lord's Prayer we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." An alternate translation is "Give us today tomorrow's bread." Some modern versions of the Bible offer this alternate translation as a footnote. "Tomorrow's bread" is the bread of the kingdom which we can receive today in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
The kingdom of God doesn't come in fullness until the end of time, but Jesus expected his followers to live as if the kingdom was already here. For example, since the kingdom has burst in upon us (in part) in the coming of Jesus, we are called to forgive those who hurt us, even though they are not deserving, just like God forgives us when we are not deserving.
The meaning of praying for "tomorrow's bread" today is that if we are to live like the people of God in the here and now, we need kingdom bread, manna from heaven, to strengthen us. We are unable to be kingdom people without kingdom bread.
Is it possible that Jesus had this in mind when he taught his disciples to pray this petition? (See Abba: Another Look At The Lord's Prayer by Ron Lavin, CSS Publishing Company, Lima, Ohio, 2003.)
2.
In Romans 8:23, Saint Paul speaks of "firstfruits." The Greek word behind our English translation is arroban. Arroban means previews, foretaste, deposit, or firstfruits. Since Christians have this arroban, we groan inwardly for the fullness of the kingdom of God and overflow with hope so that others may be touched by it (Romans 15:13).
The original context of these words was the captivity of God's people in ancient Babylon. But there is an additional context for these words of hope: your life and mine.
Conflict comes. Troubles. Feelings of estrangement. A longing for some unknown home. We seem to be captives of something -- demonic forces too strong for us, demonic forces around us ... within us. We are captives, each and every one of us.
God's word applies to us as well as to the ancient Jews to whom it was written. Like them, we have our times of defeat, discouragement, depression, and dislocation. In such times we are ready to give up. Why try? we ask in the innermost parts of our souls. How can we sing songs of hope when we are in a foreign land?
The Jews in captivity felt the same way. Can you identify with their pathos, their longing, their groaning?
By the rivers of Babylon --
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How could we sing the LORD's song
in a foreign land? -- Psalm 137:1-4 (NRSV)
In this context of sorrow the people of God remembered the message from God. "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." In our times of sorrow, we too can remember a word from God with our names on it. The message reads: "I have plans for you. Hope again. I have a future for you."
It is precisely at these low times, when we feel like hanging our happiness on the weeping willows, that God's word can give us hope. It is precisely at times of dislocation that we can discover that our true home is with our heavenly Father. We are in a far away country. Yes, but those who know they are lost really listen when God calls.
When our strength gives out, we can discover the invitation to come home through Jesus Christ. In Christ there is strength from God. It is precisely at these times that we discover for the first time, or perhaps rediscover, what it means to be a child of God for whom Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died for us when we were sinners and deserved nothing but punishment. He died so we can return home to God.
It is precisely at the darkest moments of dislocation when there seems to be no hope and we hit rock bottom that we can discover the Rock of Ages. The worst time sometimes becomes the best time because in the worst time we can learn to depend entirely on God, not ourselves. In the worst time we can discover grace, God's gift to sinners. God's grace is for you. It restores you to your journey home.
A man recently told me that he was weeping uncontrollably at the grave of his father when the pastor read these words, "... Here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14). "Changed my life," he said. "Got my mind relocated on the heavenly home God has prepared for those who love him. This world seemed so important until I began to think, really think, about the world to come. That's when I woke up to the reality of God. It was a defining moment."
When the bottom drops out and depression steps in and takes control, remember these words, "I know the plans I have for you ... a hope and a future." When demonic forces take you where you don't want to go, remember Babylon was such a place, a passage point on the way back to Zion. In New Testament terms, Calvary was just a brief stopover on the way to freedom. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang onto these words from God: "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you."
Babylonian Captivity is not a good place to be, but it is only a temporary dislocation on the way back to the Promised Land.
God sends us a message from eternity. "I have plans for you ... and a future." Hope can be restored if we believe this message. Hope is to the soul what oxygen is to the body. We really can't live without it. Hope springs eternal when we turn to the Eternal One. When we come to Holy Communion, we turn to the Eternal One.
When we come to Holy Communion we receive a foretaste of the feast to come in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, hope turns to sight. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Hear these words of hope: "This is the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you." We live in a fallen world, but we receive a word from on high: "I have plans for you. I have hope for you. I have a future for you." In Holy Communion we taste the kingdom bread, the bread of heaven. We taste "tomorrow's bread" today.24
We live in this world, but we are not of this world. We belong to the Lord. Our eternal home is with God. In, through, and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion we get a preview of coming attractions. Therefore, though we live in a fallen world, we can have hope.
Saint Paul speaks of hope in the context of the fallen world. He puts it this way:
... The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. -- Romans 8:21-26
Saint Paul goes on to encourage us to believe the Scriptures and have hope in God.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. -- Romans 15:4
Then Saint Paul offers us a benediction of hope.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -- Romans 15:13
Grace watched as Pastor Jeff closed the Bible on the pulpit and took his seat. The church was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Grace was thinking, "Dad just died. He wasn't perfect, far from it, but he was still my dad. Now I must go on without him. Is it possible that I could actually get a new Father?"
When it came time for Holy Communion, Grace went forward with Mary. She listened and watched carefully. She knew she couldn't receive Communion yet since she had not been baptized, but Mary had urged her to come forward for a blessing. She heard the pastor bless a child next to her, saying, "Remember your Baptism." Then it was her turn. She bowed her head. The pastor put his hand on her head, came close to her ear and said, "Remember, Grace, Jesus died for you on the cross, to set you free."
Jesus died for me on the cross. Why have I struggled against accepting it? Why have I doubted so much? Why have I been so unwilling to trust God? Can I really accept the fact that Christ accepts me when I am unacceptable? I'm afraid that would change me. Wouldn't that change be for the better? Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope. Hope in God.
For the benediction that day, Pastor Jeff used Romans 15:13. "May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Questions For Personal Consideration
And/Or Group Discussion
1.
Do you plan ahead a lot or do you generally make decisions on the spur of the moment?
2.
What are the benefits of these two different styles?
3.
What difference did it make to the Jews in exile in Babylon that God had a plan for their future?
4.
What difference does it make for you that God has a plan for your future?
5.
What difference does it make that God has a plan for your church?
6.
What difference does hope make in the life of a person or a church?
7.
Does God actually allow U-turns?
Digging Deeper
1.
In the Lord's Prayer we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." An alternate translation is "Give us today tomorrow's bread." Some modern versions of the Bible offer this alternate translation as a footnote. "Tomorrow's bread" is the bread of the kingdom which we can receive today in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
The kingdom of God doesn't come in fullness until the end of time, but Jesus expected his followers to live as if the kingdom was already here. For example, since the kingdom has burst in upon us (in part) in the coming of Jesus, we are called to forgive those who hurt us, even though they are not deserving, just like God forgives us when we are not deserving.
The meaning of praying for "tomorrow's bread" today is that if we are to live like the people of God in the here and now, we need kingdom bread, manna from heaven, to strengthen us. We are unable to be kingdom people without kingdom bread.
Is it possible that Jesus had this in mind when he taught his disciples to pray this petition? (See Abba: Another Look At The Lord's Prayer by Ron Lavin, CSS Publishing Company, Lima, Ohio, 2003.)
2.
In Romans 8:23, Saint Paul speaks of "firstfruits." The Greek word behind our English translation is arroban. Arroban means previews, foretaste, deposit, or firstfruits. Since Christians have this arroban, we groan inwardly for the fullness of the kingdom of God and overflow with hope so that others may be touched by it (Romans 15:13).
