The Weekly Perspective
by Burke Shade, Assistant Pastor
The Church’s life is one of hope because all of her
activities express and nourish hope. The word gives
hope, prayer nourishes hope, singing expresses and
builds hope, and baptism certainly nourishes hope as
we contemplate the union with Christ that we “hope”
will be but the conduit to joyful eternal life, beginning
in this sin-infected life. After all, Jesus didn’t do all
those things that we hear recited in the prayer from
the French baptism liturgy just to let the baby die in
infamy! No, that Jesus claims that baby as his own, or
the adult, gives us great joy and hope for their lives.
And it should! All of the church’s activities in fact
create hope because they are avenues of
communication with God. This makes sense because
the Trinity created mankind and made us in his
image that we might enjoy fellowship and eternity
with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are adopted
into his family, and all these churchly activities are but
fellowship with God in his family. And that familial
fellowship is one of hope because God himself is a
God of hope. “In the communion of the Trinity, the
Father anoints His Son with the eternal Spirit, in
hope that the Son will re-bestow the Spirit on the
Father. In Jesus, we are brought into that circulation
of joy, glory, love, loyalty, and hope” (Leithart, God of
Hope, 84) that exemplifies the divine life. Your hope
burns and shines when you keep in close communion
with the God who is hope. And how do you do that?
By keeping the church and her communion life close
to your heart!