Hoping

As a community of learners we vow to “hope together” as we gather to worship, study, teach, learn, understand, serve and express our faith.

Even though by definition hope refers to the future, for the Bible it is rooted in the present, in God’s today. We hope together when we gather to worship the Triune God. We express our hope in the promise of the Creator, the sacrifice of Christ and the presence of the Spirit!

Our study together is an expression of our hope for discerning truth and preparing ourselves to serve in the future as need and opportunity presents. Such hope produces joy and peace as we study, learn, and teach together.

Hope is an enduring virtue. As we hope together we overcome paralyzing anxiety by trusting in God. Our hope gives birth to new strength, vision, and energy for fighting complacency, hardship, and temptation and for living a virtuous life together.
A fire burns in those who hope. Hoping together fosters new passion and energy for continuing our daily practice of faith. In hope we face even the mundane with fervor.

Hoping together empowers us in times of grief. Rather than despair, we grieve with hope for a “new normal” in the future. Hope sustains us on our grief journeys, in our painful aloneness, and in our frustrating failures.

Hoping together is placing our trust in God and trusting that our worship, study, and service are pleasing to God. We no longer fear that we are never good enough. We trust that by grace and in hope we will realize the Kingdom of God in the present and in the future. As Christians the resurrection is our ultimate hope.