This has been a real time of change for my family and me.
- A 3000 mile trip
- Leaving a place where we lived for 12 years
- Familiar patterns, friends, and church
Normal patterns are gone and everything seems uncertain. It can be disoreinting and anxiety producing. It can cause you to yearn for the old and the familiar.
I know that as a church you have gone through change in the last few years. And as we start our journey together we face change as well as we look to the future. And this can cause disorientation, uncertainty and anxiety.
This leads me to our text for today from Lamentations 3:21-23:
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations is a book of 5 poems that reflect on the destruction of Jerusalem 586 BCE. It talks about change – big change and upheaval. And it point us to the source of our hope in the midst of change.
1. There’s a focus on God’s character. God’s steadfast love (or loving kindness or loyalty) and God’s mercies.
2. It highlights God’s unfailing reliability in giving us his love and mercy.
- His love never ceases
- His mercies never come to an end
- They are new every morning
Things change around us, but God’s faithful mercies never change!
3. It makes the point that God’s faithful mercies are the basis of our hope in the midst of change
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope . . . “
As we think about the future we can have hope too. Not because of me. Or because of you. But because of God’s faithful mercies to us every day without fail.
William Higgins
Christian teaching 