Leaning Into the Promise of God’s Word

Watanabe, Sadao, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1968.

Each of us confronts the world with all of its possibilities of gain and loss. Risk and anxiety attend our every move. Therefore, the crucial question facing all of us – in every moment – in every time and generation – is the matter of trust. What or who can we finally trust? What is our foundation for hope in the midst of “shootings and rumors of shootings”(such as the recent mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida). This is the question of existence. It is this question which gives all of life its religious dimension. In the face of such risk and insecurity we place our trust here and now there … tempted to place our trust in the ways of our own human construction and the world – of materialism, nationalism, weapons build-up, some political party or messiah figure who promises to “save the day.” But then, ashes … ashes … it all falls down.

Join us this weekend in worship, as we hear the story of Abraham and Sarah’s tested journey of faith (Genesis 17:1-7, 15-18), a story that is spirited across the generations to Jesus pointing his disciples and us toward the shadows of a cross (Mark 8:31-38), as the biblical story becomes, once more, our story (Romans 4:23). How or why ought we to trust in the promise of God’s Word, when so many other words fail us? Cross your calendars.

j.r. christopherson
Senior Pastor