Think for a moment of how nice it is to have a place for ourselves.  Remember how wonderful it is to come home from a trip or just a bad day?  So much of life is spent trying to find a place, from the childhood time we hope for our own room to be the anxious days when we plan for retirement.  To have a place means simply that we belong.  We have dignity and worth because we are God’s children.  We have space in which to move and act.  We need not fear being thrown out because the rent hasn’t been paid or for any other reason.

If there is any incentive to Christian work and witness in this world, it should be this: We have a guaranteed place in God’s scheme of things, both in this world and in the world to come.  The wonder of it is that when to the rest of the world we appear to have no place at all, we know that God has prepared for us a city; we have a place.  That knowledge helps to explain the freedom of a Mother Teresa in ministering to the dying or the freedom of people through the ages to do what is right regardless of what society thinks.  God’s people do not have to earn a place in history because they already have a place in the heart of God.  Jesus prepared that place for us.

A fact noted at the April 27-28 synod assembly is that church attendance in our area has dropped 8.3% the last 5 years.   People are not finding their place in worship but are at some other place on Sunday mornings; they are good people who have so many tugs on their time.

What is your place at Hope Church?  I ask that because a recent conversation with a very active member indicated that she has been busy covering “places” for people who have not yet claimed a role.  And she’s going to stop doing that.  We talk about serving out of a sense of opportunity rather than obligation.  In previous congregations, I’ve seen a small group of  members “burn out” by trying to do everything – to cover all of the bases out of an obligation that, if they didn’t, no one would.

We have a place for everyone at Hope Church, and we need each member to claim a role.  It doesn’t have to be a leading role; we have supporting roles available.  What do you enjoy doing?  Claim that opportunity for serving at Hope Church.  You’ll meet wonderful people in the process.

Where is God calling you to serve? Christ, Congregational President Erik Backus, and Pastor Sea can help you find that place to serve.

Glen A. Sea, Senior Pastor