friends, hope and forgiveness

Psalm 71:14

But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.

Yesterday Pastor Brian preached a great message on hope from the life of David - you can listen to the message at RE:hope's website (it's the most recent one). I love the community I worship with... my church. I love it because of the many friends that I have there. I love it because of the great times of musical worship. I love it for how it is always asking how it can love people better. I love it for its passion for God's Word. I love it for being a real community (imperfect and being perfected) amidst the many facades. I love it for what it stands for... and what it stands against.

What does it stand for and against you ask?

For HOPE and against Hopelessness... it is, after all, regarding Hope!

But, one of the things I love the most about my church is that it challenges me. This week I found a place inside my soul that I needed to "do business" with. Not just in a quiet "make-it-disappear" way but in a public "right-it-in-a-blog" way. With out going into too many details of the sermon, at one point our Pastor was talking about the opposition David faced from the many people in his community... friends, family and authorities. He talked about how they were hope "suckers" in David's life - standing against his life, heart and belief's about who he was and who he believed God was. As I sat and listened I found myself saddened by what I was hearing.

I have in my life gone through seasons where I was the voice of hope in a dark place... and in fact I believe that God has placed a call in my life in that area. I believe in the power of hope. I believe in its power to change people in the present with a picture of what will be... a powerful belief (and especially appropriate on Martin Luther King Day). But I have also gone through seasons where I have lost that voice... lost that picture... lost my hope. I became one of David's hope "suckers" and unfortunately, in the midst of these tough last few years, those seasons have been more prevalent... and I believe my community has suffered for it.

And so, for those whom I may have affected in these past seasons... I ask for your forgiveness. I am so sorry that I did not represent Jesus or my calling well. I confess that I lost my way in alleyways of discouragement and confusion... and that I became preoccupied by own issues, entanglements and anxieties. But I also confess to you that Jesus makes all things new and that though I know I am prone to fall my confidence is not in my "self" but it is in the power of God to change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. I believe in the power of hope and I want to say with David, "But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more."

Do Your work Lord in me. Amen.