April: Hope

Resolution: I choose to hope in God's promise that all broken things will be made new. 

April is the season on the church calendar when we are in the midst of Lent and move into Easter. This time period is marked by remembrance and contrition and it is somber to be sure. Yet, because of Easter we are not left in despair; in fact, we are given the very opposite habit of the heart: hope. Our resolution for this month captures the Easter vision: I choose to hope in God’s promise that all broken things will be made new.

In Jesus’s resurrection we are caught up in God’s cosmic work of restoring all things to the way they are supposed to be. This is why Paul includes hope among the three elements that remain when all others pass away (1 Cor. 13.13)—hope (along with faith and love) is a central marker of the Christian life. To be a person of hope, in the theological sense, means to have a positive expectation and belief that Jesus will be true to his promise to give life to those who believe in and follow Him. A hopeful person rests in the knowledge that in following Jesus he or she has been marked by the Holy Spirit as God’s own. On that basis, we are given the very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and that shall raise us from the dead. Resurrection is a central aspect of hope in the Christian story. But this concept is broader than merely transcending death. 

Our Easter hope of participating in the resurrection of Christ also calls our attention to the whole of creation. In the Letter to the Romans, Paul lets us know that all of creation awaits redemption (Rom 8.22). We find that the brokenness of the Fall is not limited to humans alone but also extends to all creation. The glory of Easter is that in Christ all brokenness is repaired. Our Advent longings (“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”) and cries for Christ to come and “Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace,” have their initial affirmative deposit in the resurrection. The hopeful Christian, then, expects with sure trust and eagerness God’s good, gracious, and enlivening work to restore to life and wholeness all that is dead and broken. Although we may at times or for seasons struggle with doubt (how will this be made right? how could God repair this?), it does not mean we have lost hope. The opposite of hope and faith is not doubt, but rather despair which is when we have lost all sense of God’s goodness and ability to redeem. Even then, though, God is working to make all things good and to restore even lost hope to those experiencing brokenness. In the season of Easter, we look with hope to God who will restore and repair all brokenness and make all things new.

April: Liturgy

Leader: Almighty Father who miraculously delivered Your people Israel from slavery to Egypt, remind us of our baptism, reassuring us we are no longer enslaved to sin but have been cleansed and forgiven.

People: Father, set us free from things that enslave us.

Leader: Lord Jesus who defeated death by Your resurrection, help us frame death as it truly is – a power that will one day be destroyed, and one that has no final authority over us.

People: Jesus, resurrect Your people and dwell with us.

Leader:  Holy Spirit, the source of all light, give Your church power to restore the broken systems and people of this world. Empower Your people to create beauty in dark spaces and bring new creation to our city, our country, and our world.

People: Spirit, Flood our imaginations with dreams of new creation.