Sunday 11.01.20 - All Saints' Day - "Eternal Hope Amid Earthly Strife" - Fr. Jeromie Rand

Primary texts for this sermon: Ephesians 1:11-23 & Revelation 7:9-1711 In him [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. The apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote those words to the Ephesians - not the usual place to pen a message of hope. Yet Paul writes of a present hope, alive and well in his heart, rooted in the present, eternal reign of Jesus Christ. How can we look around our own world and gain that kind of confidence, especially in times as fraught with trial as the year 2020 has been? Though we aren't meant to deny the reality of our circumstances, we also must remember not to mistakenly let them be the root of our faith, or our faith will not endure. Like Paul, our steadfast hope is in Christ alone, whose reign is not an abstraction but a present reality. Fr. Jeromie Rand delivers a message on the present, enduring reality of our hope in the risen and reigning Jesus'. In this hope, many saints have died and gone before us, and in this hope we await the day when in Christ "everything sad will come untrue." Support the show