Prayer: Dear God, thank you for sending your Savior as a part of your covenant with us. We pray that we will continue to look at great faithful people who have gone before us, so that we too may have confidence and assurance in the Kingdom. Help us to always “mind the gap.” In your Holy name, Amen.
Reading: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: Confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. I love the book of Hebrews. It is often misunderstood – did Paul write it? Who did? Why does it talk so much about the Old Testament? Questions such as these often deter people from this book, but I recently took an entire class on this book and I see now that it answers far more questions than it poses and is a huge resource to anyone needing encouragement for FAITH. We have confidence in the Bible as a complete and divinely inspired book, and we have assurance that God has preserved it specifically for us to read! Hebrews 11 might just be my favorite chapter out of all the ones we studied. My professor called it “The Hall of Faith” because it listed many great examples of faithful people from the Old Testament and described what they accomplished with their great faith. Like Enoch, Noah, Sarah, and Abraham. He also referred to them as a great cloud of witnesses that are there for believers to look to for encouragement If you have ever been to London, England and rode the Underground (aka the Tube), you have heard the phrase “mind the gap!” In the Underground train stations, as a train approaches the platform, the loud speaker reminds passengers who are loading and unloading from the train that there is a gap between the train and the platform where one could trip or lose an item in if it is dropped. I have to say, it is very memorable and fun to say after a few days on the tube. Knowing this, my professor used the saying to describe how Abraham displayed his faith as it is written in the second half of this passage. He minded the gap between what we have now on earth, and what is to come with the Kingdom of God, because of this he held tight to God’s promises and had faith. Mind the gap between what you see now and what God has promised! Have confidence and assurance! -- Anne Harshbarger
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