ICYMI: Back to the Future: Unimaginable, Absurd Hope
If you missed Sunday's service or could use a refresher, here's a quick recap featuring a song from Sunday on Spotify, the sermon's main point, a key quotation, a prayer, and our weekly Next Step Practice. Scroll to the bottom for the full sermon recording.
📖 Focal Scripture
🎯 Reflection
The unimaginable good news that Zechariah and Elizabeth receive shows us that God remembers and keeps promises. As we contemplate their ancient story, we’re invited to imagine a future that might also seem absurd — suspending disbelief, trusting in God's promise, and actively participating in a hope-filled future.
🗣️ Key Quotation
“Look, I know very well that brooding misshapen evil is everywhere, in the brightest houses and the most cheerful denials, in what we do and what we have failed to do, and I know all too well that the story of the world is entropy, things fly apart, we sicken, we fail, we grow weary, we divorce, we are hammered and hounded by loss and accidents and tragedies. But I also know, with all my hoary muddled heart, that we are carved of immense confusing holiness; that the whole point for us is grace under duress; and that you either take a flying leap at nonsensical illogical unreasonable ideas like marriage and marathons and democracy and divinity, or you huddle behind the wall. In short I believe in believing, which doesn’t make sense, which gives me hope.” — Brian Doyle
🙏 Prayer
God who remembers and keeps promises, just as Zechariah was made silent not as punishment but invitation, bring me also to a heightened awareness that I might listen, see, and recognize the signs of your hope and good future already in-breaking. Amen.
➡️ Next Step
Write down one hope you have for the future — whether for you personally, for your community, or for the world. Then, identify one thing you can do this week to help co-create the future for which you yearn.
