People need hope. People want hope. They recognize that hope changes everything and that without hope life is nothing. Fyodor Dostoevsky even went so far as to say, “To live without hope is to cease to live.”
Shoppers at Courtice grocery stores made their desire for hope abundantly clear in January, 2005, when we approached them for their opinion about three names that we were considering for our church. We asked them which church they would visit on the basis of only the name. 56% of 142 people surveyed felt that Hope Fellowship was the most inviting name. 74% of the congregation agreed, and a name that had been quickly suggested and adopted when we were incorporated in 1999 became our permanent identity. At the time I wrote: “I had to let go of a couple of personal favourite names, but I have no difficulty embracing our name with fresh enthusiasm. In fact, I would like to invite you to ‘let Hope find a Home in your Heart.’ For many people life is hopeless. How beautifully different it is to experience life with ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’” If I’m not mistaken, the year that we affirmed our name was also the year that the “Hopeful Story” became a weekly feature in our church bulletin.
Last Sunday, in a sermon about hope, I suggested that followers of Jesus are harbingers of hope. That’s why God has placed our church on Bloor Street in Courtice. That’s why God has placed each one of us in our particular family, neighbourhood, school or job. Our purpose is to help our relatives, neighbours, classmates and colleagues see what “being joyful in hope” (Romans 12:12) looks like. The Lord wants us to whisper “maybe” into people’s lives, and to encourage people to try again or keep going with his help. He wants us to be like those robins that appear in late February and bring the hope of spring when there’s still snow on the ground. He wants us to point people to the hope of the nations.
Now it’s not enough to just be a hopeful story. You have to tell your hopeful story. In fact, there’s no better way to share your faith than to share a story that shows exactly when and how God helped you.
Telling your hopeful story is certainly much better than telling people what they should do when they’re in trouble or going through a rough patch. Telling people what to do may work sometimes, but more often than not it turns them off and drives them away. It’s much more effective to say, “In a similar situation, this is what worked for me and this is how God helped me.”
It’s also important to remember that the best hopeful story is a painful story. Unfortunately, we tend to shy away from sharing our painful pasts. Our motivation for keeping our pain hidden may be good. We may want to protect our loved ones from life’s harsh realities. We may want to avoid embarrassing ourselves. But there’s a time and a place for telling someone about the abusive experience, the shameful habit or the devastating loss that brought you to the brink of despair. Our children and grandchildren, not to mention others, would probably be much better equipped for real life if we honestly and appropriately shared both our pain and our hope with them.
You have a painful story. Tell it. You are a hopeful story. Be it. Then watch God use your tale to inspire others to also put their hope in the only One who does not disappoint.
- Pastor Peter
Shoppers at Courtice grocery stores made their desire for hope abundantly clear in January, 2005, when we approached them for their opinion about three names that we were considering for our church. We asked them which church they would visit on the basis of only the name. 56% of 142 people surveyed felt that Hope Fellowship was the most inviting name. 74% of the congregation agreed, and a name that had been quickly suggested and adopted when we were incorporated in 1999 became our permanent identity. At the time I wrote: “I had to let go of a couple of personal favourite names, but I have no difficulty embracing our name with fresh enthusiasm. In fact, I would like to invite you to ‘let Hope find a Home in your Heart.’ For many people life is hopeless. How beautifully different it is to experience life with ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’” If I’m not mistaken, the year that we affirmed our name was also the year that the “Hopeful Story” became a weekly feature in our church bulletin.
Last Sunday, in a sermon about hope, I suggested that followers of Jesus are harbingers of hope. That’s why God has placed our church on Bloor Street in Courtice. That’s why God has placed each one of us in our particular family, neighbourhood, school or job. Our purpose is to help our relatives, neighbours, classmates and colleagues see what “being joyful in hope” (Romans 12:12) looks like. The Lord wants us to whisper “maybe” into people’s lives, and to encourage people to try again or keep going with his help. He wants us to be like those robins that appear in late February and bring the hope of spring when there’s still snow on the ground. He wants us to point people to the hope of the nations.
Now it’s not enough to just be a hopeful story. You have to tell your hopeful story. In fact, there’s no better way to share your faith than to share a story that shows exactly when and how God helped you.
Telling your hopeful story is certainly much better than telling people what they should do when they’re in trouble or going through a rough patch. Telling people what to do may work sometimes, but more often than not it turns them off and drives them away. It’s much more effective to say, “In a similar situation, this is what worked for me and this is how God helped me.”
It’s also important to remember that the best hopeful story is a painful story. Unfortunately, we tend to shy away from sharing our painful pasts. Our motivation for keeping our pain hidden may be good. We may want to protect our loved ones from life’s harsh realities. We may want to avoid embarrassing ourselves. But there’s a time and a place for telling someone about the abusive experience, the shameful habit or the devastating loss that brought you to the brink of despair. Our children and grandchildren, not to mention others, would probably be much better equipped for real life if we honestly and appropriately shared both our pain and our hope with them.
You have a painful story. Tell it. You are a hopeful story. Be it. Then watch God use your tale to inspire others to also put their hope in the only One who does not disappoint.
- Pastor Peter
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