Hope

Sunday May 25th, Isaiah 49: 8 This is what the LORD says: I will answer your prayers because I have set a time when I will help by coming to save you. I have chosen you to take my promise of hope to other nations. You will rebuild the country from its ruins, then people will come and settle there. 9 You will set prisoners free from dark dungeons to see the light of day. On their way home, they will find plenty to eat, even on barren hills. 10 They won't go hungry or get thirsty; they won't bothered by the scorching sun or hot desert winds. I will be merciful while leading them along to streams of water. 11 I will level the mountains and make roads. 12 Then my people will return from distant lands in the north and the west and from the city of Syene. This is an image of hope in the midst of fear and worry. The Lord calls us to follow this vision also. To bring the message of God’s love into the world by doing god’s live in the world. This is not the stuff of military power and might; it is not the stuff of fear and intimidation. This is the stuff of hope and help. We too are called to be the hands of Christ brining hope to the world. N the midst of the earthquakes, hope. In the midst of typhoons, hope. In the midst of racial and immigration tensions, hope. In the midst of wondering where the next meal is coming from, hope. This is the desire of God and our calling as a people and as a nation, hope and help, without agendas.