2021 Devotion Series Part 1: “Living Hope”

Full Scripture Passage: I Peter 1:3-7
Key Verse: “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Thinking back over the past year and all the ways it changed your life, what memories do you have of hope? Where did you find it? Or where did it find you? Hope may accompany our major life milestones, but often it arrives alongside little things. Sometimes through a piece of music, a moment in nature, or a conversation. Can the hope we find in these little things remind our weary souls to hold on to the greatest hope of all?

Lent is a season for reflecting on our humanity, specifically its brokenness. And in 2021, Lent will find us all marking one full year since unfamiliar words like novel coronavirus, pandemic, Covid-19, and social distancing began to shape our lives in ways we could not yet imagine. After such a year, Christians around the world are likely to discover new significance in any practice that helps us contemplate our deep and undeniable dependence on God. 

Thankfully, we do not walk alone on this daily Lenten path that will soon immerse us in remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death. Eventually, with our brothers and sisters in East Africa and around the world, we will arrive together at the joyful triumph, ultimate victory, and living hope of Christ’s resurrection! Our souls may feel heavy with struggle (v. 6), but they recognize hope at every turn. We have been born into this living hope through Jesus! Therefore hope is not only our ultimate destination, it is our constant companion along the way.

Merciful God, as we journey together through Lent, may our decision to eat simply on behalf of the vulnerable unite us with the global Body of Christ. Open up space within us to recognize and rejoice at the living hope we share. Thank you for being enough to meet all of our needs, and for sharing out of your abundance so that we are able to give. Amen.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

As we begin Rice & Beans Month focused on HOPE, here are a few more scriptures to meditate on throughout the week.

  • Romans 5:1-5  
  • Psalm 33:16-22
  • Hebrews 10:19-23
  • Lamentations 3:15-25
  • Isaiah 40:28-31

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