Vision: “The Good News of Jesus Christ enables us to embody hope, for he is truly the anchor of our soul.” Hebrews 6.13-20
John Calvin says: “As long as we sojourn in this world, we stand not on firm ground, but are tossed here and there as it were in the midst of the sea, and that indeed very turbulent; for Satan is incessantly stirring up innumerable storms, which would immediately upset and sink our vessel, were we not to cast our anchor fast in the deep. For nowhere a haven appears to our eyes, but wherever we look water alone is in view; yea, waves also arise and threaten us; but as the anchor is cast through the waters into a dark and unseen place, and while it lies hid there, keeps the vessel beaten by the waves from being overwhelmed; so must our hope be fixed on the invisible God.”
Hope is found in Jesus Christ. It is a hope that enters the inner shrine for he is the Great High Priest. It is a hope that is found in God coming in the flesh and dwelling amongst us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Saint Augustine said: “Without God I can’t but without me God won’t.”
Now we respond by participating with what the Holy Spirit is doing in this world. We are to hear the word of God and then respond with faithfulness. We are not to be consumers – instead we are to be disciples. A disciple is one who is a learner – and that learning is to impact our actions We believe in the incarnation, which is God in the flesh dwelt amongst us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. In his passion he suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, and on the third day he rose from the dead — therefore, as the church, we are called to live as incarnational people, that live as servants of all.
We are to go and do likewise. We are to embody hope in the situations, circumstances, and places that the Lord has called us to be. This is discipleship.
“In a Christian community everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his book Life Together