This past Sunday, we celebrated one year of worship at Hope Lutheran Church. It has been so humbling and amazing to see God working in this church and through this church! That is worth celebrating!
But how do you celebrate? And what exactly do you celebrate? Do you celebrate numerical growth? Do you celebrate a journey? Do you celebrate specific events in the church's young history? I'll give you an insight into the say I've been thinking lately. How do you take a spiritual community at a key juncture and move them forward God's way? I chose to answer that question through the text chosen for tomorrow's message.
I could've chosen a psalm of praise, or a word of comfort, a message of togetherness, or a text of mission, but I didn't. I chose a text that tells the account of how a lot of people died, until they didn't anymore. It's from 2 Samuel 24. If you've never read it before, read it here. It's 2 Samuel 24:15-25. It's the story of how a lot of people died until they didn't anymore.
Here's my rationale. I picked it because I want you to understand that hope isn’t just a community that is about love, or just a place to be known, and this isn’t just a place where you can serve and be kind to others, this is a place where your death gets life. Here's what I'm hoping to show you tomorrow: this church is different than the temple, and it’s better than the temple. Because you get to come here and receive. Because the only thing those people did was wait for the greater David to come. You know what you get to do? You get to receive him now. You receive him. It’s what we do here.
I'd say that's worth celebrating! One year. A whole year of receiving EVERY WEEK, the forgiveness of God. And many more to come.
