Hope Church PCA

Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem

Sunday Schedule:

9:30 a.m. – Sunday School
10:30 a.m. – Morning Worship Service
5:45 p.m. – Outdoor Vespers Service

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Palm Sunday

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Tears of a King

April 5, 2020 |

“It is not, then, God the grand co-commiserator who gives us the freedom to cry out, but God the Rock. This is the God we can trust with our pain, our confusion, and grief even when he gives no answers, precisely because he is big enough to be the only answer we need.” 

Derek Rishmawy, “The God Who Hears Our Lament”

 “Did you know Creation is talking to you?
Wherever you go and whatever you do?
God will keep giving you clue after clue
So you won’t forget to remember what’s true …
Let the whole earth remind you of what God has said
From the moment you wake up ’till you go to bed
Oh and even on days you forget what is true
Don’t forget to remember, God won’t forget you”

Ellie Holcomb, “Don’t Forget to Remember” 

“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

Westley, The Princess Bride

From Scattered to Welcomed

April 14, 2019 |

“The world is full of darkness, but what I think we caught sight of in that tourist trap in Orlando, Florida, of all places, was that at the heart of darkness – whoever would have believed it? – there is joy unimaginable. The world does bad things to us all, and we do bad things to the world and to each other and maybe most of all to ourselves, but in that dazzle of bright water as the glittering whales hurled themselves into the sun, I believe what we saw was that joy is what we belong to. Joy is home, and I believe the tears that came to our eyes were more than anything else homesick tears. God created us in joy and created us for joy, and in the long run not all the darkness there is in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy, because whatever else it means to say that God created us in his image, I think it means that even when we cannot believe in him, even when we feel most spiritually bankrupt and deserted by him, his mark is deep within us. We have God’s joy in our blood.”

– Frederick Buechner

“Our contemporary situation is surprisingly similar to the early Christian context in which the normative understandings and practices of hospitality were developed. We, like the early church, find ourselves in a fragmented and multicultural society that yearns for relationships, identity, and meaning. Our mobile and self-oriented society is characterized by disturbing levels of loneliness, alienation, and estrangement. In a culture that appears at times to be overtly hostile to life itself, those who reject violence and embrace life bear powerful witness. People are hungry for welcome.”

– Christine Pohl

“For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”

– Isaiah 56: 4-5

Jesus: Lord at Thy Death

March 25, 2018 |

“The secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: ‘I’m the Messiah.’ I’m saying: ‘I am God incarnate.’ And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the ‘M’ word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah.”

—Bono in conversation with Michka Assayas

“What will he do when he comes as judge, who did this when giving himself up to be judged? What will his power be like when he comes to reign, who had this kind of power when he came to die?”

—Augustine of Hippo

“I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her finger tips
It burned like fire
This burning desire …
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”

—U2

Music for Suffering and Sadness

April 9, 2017 |

“How we deal with loss and suffering will mostly depend on our ability to see what painful events do to our hearts. If we refuse to face the damage, the dysfunctional patterns set in motion to handle it will continue to exacerbate the wound. Like a broken arm that is not properly set, it may fuse and heal improperly. We may learn to adapt to the way the fissures set, but it is unlikely to provide us with the optimum opportunity to live the way we were meant to live.

Suffering changes the human heart—sometimes for good and often for ill. We are faced with the challenge of learning how to wrestle with sorrow so it can bring about the greatest good. If we want to become more like God wants us to be, we must consider what it means to live well in a fallen world rather than scramble to escape the veil of sorrow.

As men and women after God’s own heart, we are called to walk the path Jesus walked. Jesus, “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3), never once dealt with reality by turning to dark cynicism, blasé acceptance, angry strength, and empty hope. The route to Golgatha was strewn with temptations to sidestep death, yet Jesus learned obedience through suffering. Jesus’ choice to embrace life to the point of death resulted in the healing of the greatest wound of our hearts: separation from God. As his followers, we are on the same journey, the same healing path.”

Dan Allender, The Healing Path