A Hope Big Enough For Everyone – Oct 20, 2024

Raleigh Mennonite Church

Isaiah 40: 1-8

This Sunday Melissa Florer-Bixler continued to move further into the words of the prophet Isaiah, when the Persian king Cyrus allowed God's people to return to Israel, ushering in a time of comfort and hope. The prophet spoke of a highway being built from through hostile land between Babylon and Jerusalem, and Melissa reminded us of the tradition of the aesthetics, the desert mothers and fathers, who also lived in hostile places and prayed for all people and ministered to those who came to grief on remote highways. Much like the aesthetics, there have been faithful people in our own lives who have gone before us, sacrificing much, and helping us to see a living model of the path to redemption that Jesus paved for all with his suffering. In this time of political tension and extreme anxiety approaching the election, we may wonder who is speaking the truth, and who might be leading falsely in the name of Christ. Ultimately, we must look at the shape of the way they are trying to pave, and decide if that way has a hope big enough everyone to find the path home to safety and redemption.