Eric's Wednesday Sermon; Hope

The easiest way to think of hope is in the very normal sense -- A feeling that something desired may happen in the future. I would think that we all get that concept. It is fun because religious people will tell you that that is not what hope means. So that is what most of us think it means but they say it means something else. Excuse me but there is something backward about that logic. That is like the fancy pants "scientists" telling us that what everyone says is green is not really green. Pluto was a planet. Then they changed the definition of a planet and tell us Pluto is no longer a planet. Some folks are weird that way but so be it.

Just have some hair pulling fun and type in the definition of hope into your favorite search engine. So if you want me to tell you what hope means in the Bible you would have to tell me what chapter you are referring to. A sentence or a verse even will not do. Hope is used contextually. It can mean anything from forlorn hope to bending or changing or a part of salvation or even that David hoped for a wife. Hope is a word like "justice" or "love". You have to ask the context in which it is used.

I hope that lays the foundation for a fruitful discussion and some good old fashion chew the fat thinking for us here. I like this one the best: Hope Springs Eternal. That just sounds comforting and nice and what is wrong with comfortable and nice?

Hopefully is a great word. So is hopeful. And that brings me to what I think is important. The future. Did you ever tell someone who was telling you to live in the moment that in that moment your wanted to think about the future? There is this gal with a young son and her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Sure she grieved a bit. But then she was filled with hope and found joy in life. Have you ever met someone that you thought was very hopeful that was miserable? I have not. So hope is a little bit more than what meets the eye.

Hope can turn what seems to be a disastrous day into a great day. I don't know exactly how that works but I have an idea.

I have studied under a wonderful Yogi the art of meditation. He is a little Jewish fellow who just fell in love with the Hindu culture and was a Tae kwon do master. He encouraged me to put my Jesus into my forefront on all meditations. We agreed I would not learn the translations of the chants so that would not be an issue. The resonance of the possibly 4 thousand year old tonal vibrations were what we were after. Of course "Om" is always God to me. My point here is that we did meditations of visualization of wondrous places. Mine are of the future yet at the same time of places I have been in the past. Believe me after years I can find a happy place even stuck in traffic (although that is more an awareness meditation)

I can find the hope of returning to a glorious place and that fills me with peace and serenity or with varying breathing techniques fires me up and fills me with energy. There is always a hope of being even more filled with God's love for me. Hope actually changes my breathing, lowers my heart rate yet increases my circulation and allows for a higher level of concentration and memory recall and continuity of thought.

Worry is probably the most common cause of crap in your life. It is mine. If you looked at me you would not know it, because I deal with. I have taught my son not to worry. If takes more work than learning ABC's but far more worth it. Yes we see the worry, know the worry and own the worry and maybe express the worry out loud to take away it's power because it just happens. But we don't stay there. We have developed an auto trigger to change worry into hope. We envision good results we discount the negative and accentuate the possible great outcomes of future.

Here is a fun one that really does have some medically proven truth. If you dance a little jig and force a smile upon your face and think of the future you will be filled with hope/happy.

So yes let us live in the moment but find your self and in that self will be anticipation of future circumstances. It just is. So grab on to health and happy and Hope.

Somewhere over the rainbow. My son told me all excited about seeing a rainbow. A bright eyed Kinder describing a rainbow can fill you with hope. What! You exclaim. Joy maybe but hope. Well yes. Hope that his amazement at the wonderful world around him, our heavenly earth will never end.

So let me close this out as I have given us too much to think about already but I will add a portion on sports within a short time.

XOXOX hugs and kisses to all you hopers out there!