“Living with Hope into God’s Future”
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11, NKJV
On January 1, 2019, I wrote a prayer inspired by Jeremiah 29:11:
Dear God,
You hold our past, present, and future
in your hands.
You hold us in your heart…
Help me to trust in you
and be at peace in your everlasting arms.
Let me live each moment with gratitude,
and look to the future with hope.
In Christ’s name. Amen.
Back then, I had no idea that the year after I wrote this prayer, the whole world would literally shut down for a couple of months because of a deadly virus. I didn’t know that in three years, I would become a widow. Nor did I imagine myself doing things that I felt I couldn’t do because I either didn’t have the knowledge or skill, or I was afraid I would fail. The hopeful message of Jeremiah 29:11 became more than just a Bible memory verse to me. It was like a lifeline, words that I held on to, even when everything around me, and at times, inside me, was screaming “It is all hopeless. There is no use going any further.” To choose to persevere and trust in God, and to believe that Jesus who is also Emmanuel, God-with-Us, leads us on when we feel like we cannot go one more step, is only possible because of God’s love and Spirit that is alive and at work in us.
Hope may seem elusive at times but God makes a way for you and me to receive it, even at our darkest moments. It reminds me of Emily Dickinson’s poem that began with the words, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” It seems fragile and at times out of reach, like a feather floating above one’s head. But as Dickinson went on to write, this feathery hope “perches on the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.” This poem helped me to believe that there is hope, thatto live with hope into God’s future is possible. The other choice is despair and resignation. We are free to choose that as well. But as your pastor and disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ, I choose to believe and trust God who promised us “hope and a future.” In Jesus, I dare to believe that hope is more than just a fragile feather. God’s hope is stronger. It is like a rock that is not easily shaken. We can depend on God’s words and promise. I have seen this hope at work in my life and in the life of our church, community and the world. I trust that you have seen God’s hope at work in your life, too.
It is with this hope in God, that I invite and encourage you to make time to pray for and imagine what “hope and a future” would be like for our church family in the next 3 – 5 years. I urge you to consider how God is calling you to respond not just as an attendee of Sunday services at Central Baptist Church, but as the beloved son and daughter of God who is gifted and called by God to serve and be a blessing to many. This new year is a great opportunity for each of us to rededicate ourselves to God and God’s church, and in particular Central Baptist Church. I invite you to join me in a prayerful discernment, planning and implementation of what God’s Spirit directs us to do as a united Body of Christ so that starting 2025 we can claim the future that is full of hope that God intends for us. Let us pray for our church’s Future Ministry Planning Task Force, who will be begin working to facilitate our journey into God’s hope and future this January.
May the God of All Times, Bless Us and Send us forth into the New Year to live with Hope and claim God’s future for us and fulfill Jesus’ Command to make disciples of all nations starting here in Woodbury, New Jersey.
A Blessed Epiphany and Happy New Year to You All!
Yours In Christ’s Hope and Love,
Pastor Carla
Annual Church Theme: Living with Hope into God’s Future
The challenge and invitation for our church family this new year 2025 is to live with hope into God’s future. When viewed from our own personal and family struggles and trials; and add on the turmoil and crises both home and overseas, HOPE may not be the first thing that pops up in our minds. But with God, we dare to claim by faith, God’s hope and future for us. Let us be encouraged by God’s promise through the prophet Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NKJV
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