March 15, 2017: Hope Through Suffering

Prayer:  Lord, you give us hope in all things and your love sustains us in the good and the bad.  Amen.   
 
Reading:  Romans 5:1-11 (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:  The word that stands out to me in this passage is HOPE.  Paul writes that we boast in our sufferings, knowing that those sufferings will produce endurance, then character, then hope.  Hope, he says, does not disappoint us.  Hope reminds us that God’s love is showered upon us and that we have the Holy Spirit to direct our ways.
 
What I find most interesting about this passage is that when I’m suffering, hope probably isn’t the first thing that comes to my mind.  But once again, Paul reminds us that God is with us in the good and the bad times.  In all things, we should have hope.  After all, in all things we have God’s love to wrap ourselves in and a Spirit to guide us all the days of our lives.  –Chad Hershberger