Last week with I briefly ran past you Harvie Conn’s 3 indicators of a church which is a true model of Christ 1 a church that communicates dynamic faith in Jesus as the Justification of God 2 a church that authenticates unconditional love through Jesus as the Justice of God 3 a church that celebrates realistic hope orientated to Jesus as the Expectation of God or to put it more simply, for healthy Christianity we need FAITH in Jesus as the only one who can make us right with God LOVE that accepts others as Jesus accepts us HOPE that looks forward to seeing Jesus Christ

I am sure we often ask ourselves where’s my faith, we struggle to believe; we know it’s important or we ask: where’s my love; that’s vital for true Christianity But how often do we ask Where’s my hope? We’ve given up. Hope is well described as an essential vitamin for the Christian life: if it is missing we will struggle and grow sluggish.; if we have hope then we can put up with a lot of trouble, because we have something to look forward to which is precisely what Christian hope is: something or someone to look forward to meeting. Christian hope is not a vague optimism as when we say ‘I hope the sun will shine tomorrow’ it’s much more a sure expectancy; it is a confidence that no matter how dark the situation God can heal that despair and fill that emptiness as we see in our readings from Lamentations 3 and Romans 5 Lamentations is the cry of a community abandoned by God and knowing that it deserves to be; it is the grief of a people desolated by the destruction of the Temple. (3.17-18) ‘I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is, So I say “My splendour is gone and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”’

The writer’s mind is understandably full of bitter hurtful memories which make him depressed ‘I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me.’ (20) At v 21 however it as if he has changed tapes in his mind. He has taken out the recording that goes over and over how bad things are, how badly he has been treated and he puts in one that plays a message of hope a message of ‘the Lord’s great love’ ‘The Lord’s great love’ is the Hebrew word hesed steadfast covenant love and mercy in fact it is in the plural to suggest that there is lots of the Lord’s great love, an inexhaustible supply ‘his compassions never fail, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.’ If we would be people of hope we need to keep playing those tapes that remind us every day of the reality of God and his purposes. We need to bring the Bible to mind we need to appreciate the Lord’s Supper because it helps us to eat and drink in remembrance of Jesus Christ we need to sing hymns of praise to remind ourselves who God really is.

Are you distressed because of the deep evil in our society as revealed in the ‘States of Fear’ programmes? Perhaps these have brought back to you unpleasant memories of harsh and abusive teachers at school? Perhaps you are plagued with unbearable memories of harsh and abusive people in your own home? Perhaps the appalling reports from Kosovo haunt you? Perhaps even coming to church on Sundays is not much help because the church generally seems to be in decline and retreat? Are you now playing tapes that say: it is hopeless and pointless. I felt like that last summer standing outside the church in Ballymoney when the three Quinn boys were being buried and then I looked at the satellite vans of the media and the journalists each talking into a mobile phone ready to bring every detail of the tragedy across the world and I seemed to hear God saying, people do this for the bad news but there is good news, you know. I am sure many of us felt hopeless a month later with the bad news of the Omagh bomb. a radio interviewer asked our moderator Dr John Dixon: ‘How can you speak of hope in this situation?’ The reply came that although humanly there was little reason for hope yet with God there is always reason to hope. Play the tapes of hope. Recall the bible verses that speak of promise and forgiveness and restoration Sing the hymns with the same themes; even remember the old catechism teachings and go over them. Drive out the bad news we so easily receive with the good news of Christ we so often forget.

And in such living hope be prepared to do something that is not congenial to our instant demand age and mentality WAIT 3.24 ‘I say to myself, the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ (a memory verse?) We want quick fixes and instant answers are we prepared to take a long view in difficult situations and persevere? That’s what Paul expects from Christians of his day in Romans 5. They are going through a lot of suffering, largely because of persecution but he expects that they will ‘rejoice’ not only ‘in the hope of the glory of God’ looking ahead, looking forward (5.2) but also ‘rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character hope. (5.4) We need to be like the frog in this poem: Two frogs fell into a can of cream , or so I’ve heard it told. The sides of the can were shiny and steep, the cream was deep and cold Oh what’s the use croaked No 1, ‘tis fate, no help’s around. Goodbye my friends, goodbye sad world, And weeping still he drowned. But no 2 of sterner stuff, dog paddled in surprise. The while he wiped his creamy face, and dried his creamy eyes. ‘I’ll swim a while at least ,’ he said, Or so I’ve heard he said. It wouldn’t really help the world, if one more frog were dead. An hour or two he kicked and swam, not once he stopped to mutter, but kicked and kicked and swam and kicked and hopped out via butter. Have we not more reason for our hope than the brave frog had? 2 reasons at least one is in v 5 ‘hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love in to our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.’ the other is in v 8: ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.’

One is on the inside: the Holy Spirit gives us that reassurance that sense of peace and joy in now belonging to God when we believe in Jesus Christ: when we hear him say ‘I love you’. And for those times when that is a very dim and distant feeling there is an outside reason also the reminder that God loves us not because we are good but because Jesus Christ has died that we might be forgiven. 5.8 ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners Christ died for us.’ The cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s hesed God’s steadfast covenant love Keep calling that steadfast love to mind, keep going, keep waiting, keep looking forward. Your jar of cream can become a platform of butter.

Lord we confess we so easily lose hope, we look around, we look within and we play the negative tapes, we believe the lies of despair. Forgive us; bring us to look to Jesus today; remind us of him in every way, help us to call to mind your steadfast love that Christ shall be our portion and we will wait for him.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.