Please find below the notes from the Elder's Prayer this past Sunday.

You know our hearts. You know how often we are tempted to sin, tempted to turn away, tempted to place our hope in someone/something other than in you.

When sorrows come, we are tempted to give up – we stop trying, we focus only on ourselves, we are tempted to think that no one has ever gone through what we’re going through. We forget our hope.

When stress comes, we are tempted to turn to alcohol or food or anger. We don’t know what to do with stress, so we look for some release outside ourselves to help manage it or we just react, not thinking of the damage we could do to others and ourselves. We forget our hope.

When the world around us changes, we are tempted to find hope in politics or activism, thinking that if we can change behavior or circumstances, that everything will be better/right/ok. We forget our hope.

We are tempted to place our hope for security, our hope for contentment, our hope for peace in many different things, all of them temporary, fleeting, incomplete, empty, all of them easily shaken and ruined.

But you are immovable. Your word and your promises remain forever. Whatever you build will last, it will not be shaken. Whatever you say is true. Whatever you command, we know with certainty that it will happen.

In you we find security and contentment and peace.

In you we have hope – hope for today, hope for eternity, hope through change, hope through stress, hope through sorrow, hope in temptation. Whenever our hearts are tempted to turn or we feel we will fail, we can find hope in you.

Amen.