We hope that you have been able to incorporate the New City Catechism in the lives of your families whether it’s before school, at the dinner table, or at family worship. Our hope is that as the month goes on more and more voices (including the voices of our youngest) will be able to participate in the part of the service where we confess our faith together.
This month, we’re working through Question 1, which is all about hope. Hope is one of those realities that is fundamental regarding what it means to be a human being. What we believe about our future determines how we are experiencing our present. Maybe you’ve experienced the hopefulness of a vacation on the horizon or a three day weekend to break up a difficult spell at work. Maybe you’ve recently felt that the monotonous 90+ degree days we’ve been having are bearable because of hope that cooler weather is on the way (or at least Christmas time when we can pretend).
Human beings are hope-based creatures. But in the end we need more than just generic hope or baseless optimism. These realities don’t stand up to the pain and violence of our world or the reality of death that hovers over our futures. We need a hope that is sufficient to stand up to that which threatens it. We need the hope that only comes with being found in Christ. We need a hope that was secured at the cross and assured at the empty tomb. We need a hope that can face sin and death in certain victory. As Tim Keller has put it, “There is a joy that sorrow can only enrich and deepen until it completely gives way to it. This is hope indeed.”
