Hello Hopefuls!

Can I still get away with saying happy new year? Yes, yes I can. And I do. A happy new year to you! I truly hope you are finding your entry into 2023 to be purposeful, full of peace, love and renewed energy.

We have started the new year at Hope with a sermon series called Fresh Air: How the Gospel Renews and Revives. Through this series, we are looking at some themes and concepts that hopefully will provide encouragement and renewal to us to start another year. Last Sunday, we looked at peace and what the biblical understanding of that is.

What I find challenging is that peace is not simply the absence of conflict. Not fighting with others is certainly peaceful, but is not quite the full understanding of shalom, the Hebrew word for peace and the concept of what God ultimately intends for us. Shalom means whole or complete. Everything working together for the common good. Ultimate peace means that all things are reconciled, redeemed, repaired and whole.

In the day to day, peace is something we long for and can work toward even while living in a world that is not at peace. And I posed some questions for us last week that I hope you consider in your life: what things bring you peace in your life? What relationships, activities and practices bring peace and align you with God? Is there a relationship that could be possibly reconciled? Is there forgiveness that needs to take place? Seek those things out and engage in them.

My prayer for us as we continue this year together in ministry and life at Hope is that we live as people of peace. Peace peeps! But also Hopefuls 😉 Let our interactions be peaceful and with the intent to be whole. Treating each other with love, respect and regard. As the old song says, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” Bless you all and see you soon!