Fields United Methodist Church

Jesus Along the Way: Words of Hope and Grace.                 Pastor Tom Joyce

October 8, 2020

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  I Peter 1:3

In the crisp, fall mornings before the sun rises and warms the planet for yet another day to give glory to our Lord Jesus Christ and celebrate a new day of living, there is a bright-shining planet in the eastern sky. I am no scholar in astronomy but what I know is this, God created the heavens and the earth, including the stars and the planets and truly deemed them as good. For me, this bright spot in the sky is testimony to the mercy of God who offers freshness, hope, to life at the start of every day. As much as the morning sky offers hope, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ offers “living hope,” affirmation that whether the sky is darkened by clouds or our way hindered by life’s twists and turns, God through Jesus offers a new way, a new birth, of living and viewing all life. This is the core of our belief, the root of all that is good. Jesus is more than a star or a planet, Jesus is Savior to you and to me; a living hope. The amazing grace that has been offered to all people is the opportunity to begin each day new, showered with the promise of everlasting life, being offered forgiveness for our shortcomings when we turn our lives over to the real truth that is Jesus, the Word that became flesh and dwelled among us.  There is only one Savior who proclaims, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) The “living hope,” Jesus the Christ, will be with you even to the end of the age and will never leave you or forsake you; though human emotion and actions can be fickle, the love of Jesus will neither falter or fail for those who believe. As you begin your day perhaps anxious by world events or personal challenges, turn your life over to the root of all that is good, acceptable, and perfect. May your soul sing to the Lord a new song, a song of new life in Christ. My soul sings out this day the words of Danny Okey, “In the morning when I rise, in the morning when I rise, in the morning when I rise, just give me Jesus, you can have all this world but give me Jesus.” Accept the new life of Christ; he is the truth that will soothe your soul.

Rev. Tom Joyce