One of the most incredible words in all of scripture is Immanuel, which means God with us. The concept of Immanuel, that God became flesh and walked among us, is profound and overwhelming. The way that the hymn writer put it, the “fullness of God in helpless babe,” is a powerful way for us to understand that Jesus was truly Immanuel, the Mighty God, in the flesh of an infant. Jesus was like the 360,000+ babies that are born each day in our world – needy, vulnerable, and dependent. Jesus underwent the humility of being completely reliant on His mother for food, protection, and comfort.

Life has a way of putting us in some very challenging situations. I can think of few things that we need more these days than good counsel in our lives. I am convinced that with technology we have an abundance of counselors available. We have endless sources of information that tell us how to think, how to feel, and how to deal with life’s challenges. Judging by the number of mystical fortune tellers that exist in and around our community, we know that many people today are seeking spiritual answers to life’s greatest challenges. Thankfully, we have access to the one that Isaiah described as our “Wonderful Counselor.”

Can you remember knowing about a particular gift long before you received it? Perhaps you accidentally stumbled on it, or maybe you were a rascal like me and went looking to discover your hidden unwrapped gifts? Sometimes, knowing a gift is coming helps to build anticipation for the day that you receive it.

This special Thanksgiving weekend and the kickoff of our Christmas season give us a wonderful opportunity to invite others to join us at Hope. It might surprise you that research done by various groups on the topic of church involvement consistently concludes that a personal invitation is the most effective way to get someone you know to come to church. That is more effective than billboards, signs, and other traditional forms of advertisement.

I am grateful to celebrate that we had a wonderful Annual Meeting last Wednesday night. It was a special time together and we have plenty to thank the Lord for at Hope. I want to ask you to join me in praying for our Elder team which faithfully serves to lead our church family. Stephen Campanella, Jeff Laird, and George Pana were elected to 3-year elder terms that begin in January.

I am looking forward to tonight’s annual meeting and I invite you to join us. This is one of the more important gatherings of our church family each year. It is not just a time for elections and approving our budget for 2025. It is also a wonderful time for us to look back on this past year and to celebrate some of the exciting things that God has done in and through our Hope Church family. I hope that you are able to join us! 

This has been a wonderful year for Hope Church! As a church, we believe that God has called us to go deep in our faith and wide in our influence…by diligently following Christ, growing together, serving our neighbors, and proclaiming God’s love.

It has been said jokingly that, The only people who like change are babies and bankers. Change is hard and something we can all agree on is that our world is changing, our country is changing, and our community is changing. While we may or may not like the changes that are swirling about us, in Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus warned that the world will go through some major changes as His imminent return approaches. He wants us to remember that believers who persevere and keep serving Him will be able to handle whatever life throws at them. Jesus taught that when life feels unsettled, He is still in control.

There are reminders all around us that it is election season. I am so grateful to live in a country where we can vote and help decide who will be given leadership in our local, state, and national government. I believe it is a privilege to participate in that process. I appreciate that God’s Word clearly teaches that, “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1b ESV)

Christian community and unity is taught in God’s Word and is an expectation for all Christian believers, but what happens when we disagree on significant things? When we get together and find that we hold different views; perhaps we have different political leanings or convictions that do not mesh with one another. I believe that it is possible to share true fellowship even when we disagree, and my hope in this note is to share a pathway forward when we do not get along, based upon a helpful article that can be found here.

When we use the word fellowship in the church, I would guess that it conjures up images of potlucks and coffee in-between services. I think we see fellowship as optional, like showing up early for a football game. We might enjoy the pre-game ceremonies, but we do not always approach it as being a command or essential. That mindset contradicts the biblical understanding of fellowship – it is essential.

Hope Church is a part of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, otherwise known as the C&MA or The Alliance. The C&MA is an evangelical denomination full of believers who long to introduce the love of God to all nations.

Recently in my weekly emails, I have been focusing on the “one another” statements of scripture. These statements teach us how to experience true Christian community. Some of them also warn us against the things that can hinder Christian community. This week I want to focus on three “community killers” that might be hindering our growth as a church family.

Have you ever attempted something alone and then quickly realized that you desperately needed help? I was using a ladder once when a gust of wind blew it over, stranding me on the roof. I found myself desperately needing to “phone a friend” with no option other than to reach out for help. All too often we have a do-it-yourself (DIY) mindset when it comes to life. Unfortunately, DIY does not always work out very well. It has been well said that we forget that we need others until we need others!

One of the strangest “one another” statements in God’s Word is that we are told in multiple places to greet one another with a kiss. If you don’t believe me, check out some of these examples in scripture:

• Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. (Romans 16:16 ESV)

• All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. (1 Corinthians 16:20 ESV)

• Greet one another with a holy kiss. (2 Corinthians 13:12 ESV)

• Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (1 Peter 5:14 ESV)

At Hope Church we talk about community a lot! When we talk about community, we are talking about the type of life that God has designed for us to thrive in. When we talk about true community, we mean that we are committed to living out all of God’s instructions for His Church. The Biblical truth is that Christians don’t go to church; we are the Church. God’s people are the Church when we love and serve each other in the way that God has designed us. 

God has designed all of us to thrive in community, and at Hope Church we are deeply committed to it. The Biblical truth is that Christians don’t go to church; we are the Church. God’s people are the Church when we love and serve each other in the way that God has designed us. This is what we mean when we talk about community – we mean that we are committed to living out God’s instructions for His Church. We believe that we are better together and God designed us to be in authentic, burden-bearing fellowship with one another.

I am delighted to invite you to participate in one of the most important aspects of the health and future of our church, the appointing of Elders.

At Hope, we consider it a joy to be an Elder-led church. We depend upon a plurality of qualified and competent leaders to help us live out our calling in Brunswick and beyond. I believe that our Elder board is one of the greatest assets that we have as a church family.

There is a big difference between hearing the truth and living the truth. James warned us clearly when he wrote, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25 ESV) This is quite a convicting passage, but conviction needs to move us to action.

It is very tempting to forget that the Church is not, never has been, and never will be about our own entertainment. In almost every other area of our modern internet-equipped lives, we get to choose what we want to hear. Our smartphones, computers, radios, and televisions custom fit our entertainment and information to our personal preferences. If we do not like what we are hearing, we can simply change the channel.