When I am preaching, I often share with the congregation that I tend to preach the kinds of things that I need to hear. I imagine other pastors do much the same thing. The messages that I am drawn to in scripture are the ones that touch my heart in a personal way, or the ones that I have a hard time understanding. So, in essence, sometimes I feel like I'm preaching to myself and I hope that enough others have the same questions or curiosities so that the subject matter is meaningful for many.
Today's post feels that way to me, too. I want to simply write to encourage you. Maybe you have had a hard time lately. Maybe you have been struggling with health issues whether they are physical, mental, or spiritual. Maybe you have been deeply affected by the pandemic and just feel sad and lonely.
Maybe you have been discouraged by the lack of care that so many seem to have for others. Maybe you have been hurt by someone who can't see you past your skin color or sex or sexuality or gender identity. Maybe it all just feels a bit heavy sometimes.
Maybe you just feel down and you can't quite put your finger on it.
I want you to remember that while this world can be a brutal, uncaring place, it is also a place of great beauty and love. It is true that many people do not treat others with the love and respect we all deserve, but at the same time there are people who stand up for others' rights and who stand in the way of the bullies. That doesn't happen as often as we might like, but it is cause for celebration every time it does happen.
We have hope, because, as Martin Luther King Jr put it in this paraphrase, the arc of the moral universe is long, and we can only see a small portion of it, but it does bend toward justice.
People of faith have hope in a God who has created all people and has shown love to all people, but those who do not share that faith can still have hope in the love that humans have for one another. It may be rare, but at least sometimes people are able to break out of their selfishness and care more for the community, more for their neighbors near and far, and more for the world than for themselves.
Choose hope. We all get down from time to time. We all feel low. Choose to see the beauty. Choose to believe in the future. Allow that vision of the future to encourage you to work toward it by encouraging others to hope and dream and love, too.
Be encouraged today.
Pastor Chris
