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A Twilight Musing

Hope is generally an undervalued quality of the Christian life, but its ability to focus our faith and bind us together puts it high on the list of virtues in Scripture. It is mentioned twice (vv. 4 and 13) in the first thirteen verses of Romans 15, and it is at the heart of the prayer that concludes that passage: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” In the previous verses, Paul has has been urging unity in the Body of Christ through following the sacrificial example of Jesus, and he marvels that Jesus’ servanthood has brought hope even to the Gentiles. Now Paul pulls these themes together by praying that God’s diverse people, now one in Christ, may “overflow with hope.”

As we meet once again to partake of the Lord’s Supper, we should reclaim the element of hope inherent in it. When Jesus instituted it, He emphasized that it is both a celebration of his imminent presence with us and a looking backward and forward; it is a remembrance of His death “until He comes.” Christian hope is the embodiment of our assurance, as we look steadfastly at Jesus, that neither His suffering nor ours is in vain; that servanthood leads to glory; and that death is not final. Just as He endured the limitations of human existence and emerged victorious, we too can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, experience the wonder of God’s ability and willingness to help us break down all the barriers that threaten to tear us apart in our purely human capacity.

And so let us pray the prayer of Romans 15:13 together, in unity, as we partake of the bread and the wine: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Dr. Elton Higgs was a faculty member in the English department of the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 1965-2001. Having retired from UM-D as Prof. of English in 2001, he now lives with his wife in Jackson, MI. He has published scholarly articles on Chaucer, Langland, the Pearl Poet, Shakespeare, and Milton. Recently, Dr. Higgs has self-published a collection of his poetry called Probing Eyes: Poems of a Lifetime, 1959-2019, as well as a book inspired by The Screwtape Letters, called The Ichabod Letters, available as an e-book from Moral Apologetics. (Ed.: Dr. Higgs was the most important mentor during undergrad for the creator of this website, and his influence was inestimable.

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