I once attended a youth conference where the speaker began his talk with an invitation for the gathered youth. He asked them to look at their adult leader and make some promises about their weekend together. “Turn to your pastor, youth worker, or adult volunteer and repeat after me...”
Dear loving adult,
Thank you for bringing me here this weekend.
I promise to pay attention.
I promise to be kind to others.
And I promise not to remove things from my hotel room –
towels, sheets, televisions, couches, or anything else that should stay in my room.
And I promise to get the recommended ten hours of sleep each night of this conference. Amen!
All of these statements were said with a dose of humor, beginning with promises that were obtainable and then moving to those that were completely absurd. By the end of the list, everyone knew these latter promises were a joke.
We learn at a young age that promises are not a joke. It is important to make promises that we can keep. We promise to be nice to others on the playground. We promise to share our things when neighbors come over to play. We promise to listen to the babysitter when our parent/guardian is out for the evening. We work hard to stick to our word and keep our promises. They provide hopes for us and for those to whom we make the promise.
But it doesn’t take long for our selfishness to get in the way. We begin to reconfigure our promises so that they meet our needs or we set aside what we’ve promised, altogether. At other times, circumstances change and, for whatever reason, we can’t hold up our end of the promise. We quickly learn that promises are hard to keep.
Childhood promises and adult commitments may fail us, but week after week we are rooted in the promises of God – the One who will not fail us. Worship, the Bible, and the world around us invite us to hear God’s promises for forgiveness, healing, strength, wholeness, community, new life, unconditional love, and much more. There is also a promise of being with us no matter what life brings. We heard it in worship, this past Sunday:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 43:1-3
In the midst of overwhelming waters and consuming fires, God calls us by name and promises to be with us. This is not a fleeting promise, but one to which we can cling. The writer of Hebrews (10:23) says it this way:
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for [God] who has promised is faithful.
In the upcoming months, you’ll have the opportunity to explore God’s promises through the many stories and parables in the Gospel according to Luke. Please seize the opportunities in worship, Bible studies, and personal devotional moments to hear the promises of God and be renewed.
With hope in the Promise,
Pastor Lowell