BROADCASTS.com

b'

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people\\u2026 (Ephesians 1:18)

\\xa0
The past number of years through political polarization, pandemic, war, and now any number of other crises, like affordability, have been revelatory. \\xa0What these years have revealed to me is that there is very little hope to be found in humanity.

We fight with one another, we tear down institutions, we start wars, we multiply fears and conspiracies, we look to coerce and control one another, we make short-sighted decisions, and our solutions to save ourselves from ourselves tend to lead only to more heartache.

Of course, within our own tradition of scripture and confessions, this is not news. \\xa0Our church\\u2019s confessional statements\\u2014preaching from the scriptures as they do\\u2014have been rather blunt on this point: the sin that has broken this world touches every aspect of our lives such that we are utterly unable to pull ourselves out from it. \\xa0Our cause is hopeless.

Before all the mess of this past few years, we had perhaps been able to lull ourselves into thinking that things weren\\u2019t really so bad as all that. \\xa0Multifaceted progress, wealth, and health were allowing us to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and live good, safe, and prosperous lives. \\xa0But all of a sudden, the world doesn\\u2019t feel quite so safe and secure as it once did. \\xa0Bad news abounds. \\xa0And the diagnosis of our Christian tradition doesn\\u2019t seem quite so far off the mark after all. \\xa0We\\u2019ve begun to remember what depths of evil we human people are capable of.

And yet: the saints of ages past have not only left us with the hopeless reality check of the bad news. \\xa0They have also declared a word of unflinching hope that rings out against this world\\u2019s evil. \\xa0There is yet a name by which we may be saved. \\xa0There is yet a God who has not abandoned this world of sin and pain. \\xa0There is yet a future of full and vibrant life in and for this world coming on the horizon, if only we wait in trust for just a little longer. \\xa0Jesus remains with us, for us, in us, saving us. \\xa0And he will come again.

It is so easy for this message of hope in Christ upon which the Church is built to get lost and overlooked amidst the swirl of hopelessness and defeat. \\xa0And so in every age, including our own, this prayer of Paul needs to be continually prayed again: \\u201cthat the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened by the Spirit, in order that we may know the hope to which the Father has called us in Jesus Christ\\u2014the riches of his glorious inheritance among his saints.\\u201d \\xa0Amen. \\xa0May we all rest in this hope until Jesus comes again.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

\\xa0