Notes from my outline for Wellspring Community Church Women’s Retreat coming in November:
The question is, “How do we grow in faith and hope?” Many theologians would say something like “through the transforming power of the gospel.” And I absolutely agree. But I want to know the nuts and bolts of that. And right now I’m really excited because I have been reviewing the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I’m seeing afresh some practical answers to this question.
I’m pretty sure the answer to the question is a “what” and a “who.” The what is the core narrative of the history of redemption. The “who” is the triune God and His people.
Faith and hope grow in the context of community. Christianity was NEVER meant to be an individual religion. God called a people, not a person.
Look at what happens in Mary’s story. She is renowned for her God-given faith and submission and courage in the first major chapter of her story: “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
What formed the basis of that answer? The clue is in her song. Read it (Luke 1: 46-55). Note all the ways she talks about the rescue and redemption of the Lord. It is her knowledge of her core narrative that strengthens her faith.
But wait. There’s something else. To whom did she sing this song? Check it out. Luke 1:45-46. Of course, to Elizabeth, her impossibly pregnant cousin to whom Gabriel had pointed her. There’s so much more to say about this, and say it we will at the retreat, but for now I’ll settle for saying, “We desperately need one another to remind us, to draw out of us, the truth about our stories. With other believers who have seen the unseen, who have lived the unimaginable, we are called to remember the redemption of God which is the essence of our faith, hope, and love.”
