THINGS OF HEAVEN (Where We Come From) with Red Rocks WorshipSample

Day 2 – Assured in Hope 

Sometimes a concept becomes so common that we forget how essential it is. "Hope" is a word that gets thrown around a lot, when in actuality, hope is our hinge. The resurrection means that hope is alive; it lives and breathes. It brings to life everything that we do, every place that we go, and everything we put our hands to.

Jesus ascended to the Father because he knew it was more advantageous to give us His ever-present Spirit than for him to solely remain in a human body, bound by time and place. We now have this same Spirit—the Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation, the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, and the Spirit that fell like fire at Pentecost. This Spirit is our seal, a sign of our belonging to Christ, a stamp of our heritage, and the inheritance which identifies us as children of God. The Spirit is our assurance of hope. It is the guarantee which allows us to call chaos back to harmony and to pledge allegiance to a heavenly kingdom.

Whether or not the felt reality reflects the true reality, we have been given a hope which reminds us of our companionship with Christ. It is not a faint or a weak hope but a strong one. It can call that which is not as it should be, reminding a broken world that restoration is coming. It does not give in to despair but can navigate the nights of the soul with a formidable poise. It does not shrink back in a vanquished egoism but can boldly declare "bring on the waves" as part of a holy, participatory, cosmic communion.

Resurrection hope is the divine gift that enables us to sit in the tension between 'already' and 'not yet'; prophesying healing, singing the heart into belief again, anticipating fresh signs and wonders, and recognizing the thin places between heaven and earth.

 Reflections:

o  Listen to the songs "Breathe Miracles" and "Now Here" and consider the theme of resurrection running throughout. What does the resurrection mean for you as you go about your day today?

o  Listen to the songs "I Will Trust" and "Something Has to Break." What is the hope that is being professed in these songs? Music can be a powerful vehicle to help energize our faith and sing our hope to life. Prayerfully sing through these songs and begin to prophesy over a situation that is currently seeming hopeless in your own life.