June 2025 Chimes
Dear siblings in Christ,
The headlines we see on a daily basis are often heavy. War and conflict, environmental crisis, division in our nation, violence in our neighborhoods. Even in our own lives, we carry burdens: grief, illness, loneliness, uncertainty about the future. The world can feel overwhelming. And yet, as Christians, we are called to be a people of hope.
Not a shallow hope, not optimism or wishful thinking, but a hope rooted in Christ, who has entered into the world’s suffering, faced death, and risen with wounded hands still open in love.
So how can we, as the church, speak hope into a world that is hurting?
We speak hope by showing up.
Sometimes the most powerful witness is presence: sitting with someone in their grief, delivering a meal, writing a card, planting a garden in a neglected corner of the community. These acts of compassion proclaim that love is stronger than despair.
We speak hope by telling the truth.
Christian hope does not deny suffering. It doesn’t pretend everything is fine when it’s not. Instead, it names the pain and then boldly declares that pain will not have the last word. In our worship, our prayers, and our preaching, we hold space for lament—and then we lift our eyes to the promise of resurrection.
We speak hope by living differently.
In a culture of cynicism, we practice generosity. In a time of fear, we welcome the stranger. In an age of noise, we make time for prayer. The way we live as a community becomes a testimony: this is what it looks like when Christ is alive among us.
We speak hope by remembering whose we are.
We do not rely on our own strength or wisdom. The Church speaks hope not because we are perfect, but because God is faithful. God’s Spirit is still at work: healing, restoring, renewing, often in ways we cannot yet see.
Dear friends, our world is aching. But the Church was made for such a time as this. Let us keep listening for the cries of our neighbors, keep showing up in love, and keep proclaiming—not only with words, but with our lives—that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5).
In the peace of God,
Pastor Laura
Read the full Chimes HERE.