As we enter Jerusalem with Jesus on the first day of April, Palm Sunday, we are aware that Jesus\u2019 triumphant entrance is soon to be exchanged for a cross.<\/p>\n
The Journey to Hope needs these holy days this week to work God\u2019s way within us.\u00a0 If we, as God\u2019s people, are to truly ingest and invest God\u2019s gift of grace in Jesus \u2013 the Christ \u2013 we must walk with Jesus this week.\u00a0 Our community has observed Lent with personal journey disciplines that have included weekly study groups and bible study, food fellowship, denials of the flesh and the inclusion of a person with\/for whom to pray along the way.\u00a0 Now is not the time to breathe a sigh of relief that you\u2019ve \u201cmade it\u201d \u2013 it is the time to firmly plant your feet on the road through the Kidron Valley with Jesus as he travels in and about Jerusalem this week; as he goes once again to the Gethsemane garden to pray, as he climbs the steps to the Upper Room to break bread, as he is shoved before Pilate\u2019s throne and as he carries the cross that will bear his weight and our sin to Golgotha.<\/p>\n
The Journey to Hope is long and difficult.<\/p>\n
For those who have experienced hope – give thanks to God for it as you acknowledge the way there can be hard.\u00a0 Continue on, share your story.<\/p>\n
For those who are searching for hope \u2013 don\u2019t give up, journey onward and know that you are not alone.<\/p>\n
Spring brings us many signs of hope in God\u2019s creation \u2013 new life from the earth, warmer temperatures, more hours of sunlight and a renewed vigor in our bones for the tasks of the day. Spring also brings us to the end of Jesus\u2019 earthly journey encapsulated in our liturgical calendar between the celebrations of Christmas and Easter.\u00a0 Many God lovin\u2019 people bring themselves to community \u2013 to church \u2013 only twice each year \u2013 Christmas and Easter; for these, the Journey to Hope can seem pointless ( \u201cLife is hard, God doesn\u2019t love me.\u201d) or presumed (\u201cLife is what I make it, God\u2019s just there watchin\u2019.\u201d) How can we, the community of faith called to be Bay View UMC share our intentional Journey to Hope with those who think and feel like this about their relationship with God?<\/p>\n
Friends, I give thanks for the way we journey together \u2013 every day \u2013 and as we welcome one another and those who step in just for the day let us say, with the confidence that hope assures, \u201cHe Is Risen!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe Is Risen, indeed!\u201d.\u00a0 Alleluia!<\/p>\n
-Pastor Kelly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we enter Jerusalem with Jesus on the first day of April, Palm Sunday, we are aware that Jesus\u2019 triumphant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,18],"tags":[193,96,191,159,192],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastorkelly","category-messages","tag-creation","tag-easter","tag-holy-week","tag-hope","tag-palm-sunday"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bayviewumc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}