March 1, 2022
“For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;
I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:5-6)
Originally, this letter was going to be a pep talk to get everyone excited about our Lenten series, “Good Enough.” That changed – unexpectedly – when Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Since the first family, human beings haven’t been satisfied with what they have, but want what someone else has. Cain wanted the respect and adoration that his brother Abel received and so he killed him. After all, without Abel there would be no one to compete against. (Read Genesis 4 for more on the story.) Many of the wars or battles in the mid-East have been fought over land or resources.
Here in the US, we haven’t been immune to the greed or the “grass is greener over there” syndrome. If you think back to the days of our western expansion, small ranchers were forced out or gobbled up by larger ranches; water sources were diverted or dammed for the benefit of one ranch at the expense of the ranches and towns downstream. The ensuing battles made for good cowboy movies long after the time had passed.
Now here we are, thousands of years after the first premeditated murder, thousands of years after the first land grab, and we are living through it still. We still haven’t learned our lesson! But today, even in the new face of an old threat, even when the world is just beginning to recover from a pandemic, even when “there are great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues” (Luke 21:11), we have something to hold onto and to sustain us – something to ease our anxiety – we have hope.
Our hope isn’t placed in things made of bricks or wood or art. Our hope isn’t placed in steel or precious metals because we know that these treasures, these things are temporary and vulnerable for “moth and rust to consume and (for) thieves (to) break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19) Because we have read the end of the book and know how the story turns out, we place our hope in the Son of God who loved us enough to stretch out his arms upon a tree, a cross, so that we might enjoy a better life, a life everlasting in the kingdom that has no equal. That is good enough for me, is it you?
God’s Blessings,
Pastor Laura
PS. Be on the lookout for our new, updated “Lent in a Bag” and keep reading below for some more information on our Good Enough sermon series!