The level of confusion and bewilderment is sky high.  At the same time, the rate of change barely lets us get used to a “new normal” before the directions and instructions change again.  As a society we went from concern into viscous anxiety in the blink of a dragon’s eye.  Collectively there is little consensus about what we might expect next.

Here in Ledbetter my sense is that it is not what we expect for ourselves that weighs on us but what we think might be happening to us as part of history’s great experiment in governance.  Has liberty, fairness under the law, and freedom failed us?  Will such concepts be “cloroxed” from our consciousness to be replaced by what global intelligence agencies call “total spectrum dominance?”  What gloomy shades color our expectations of what life will be like in the future?  Will it ever be OK again?

If we had only our surface experiences with which to evaluate and extrapolate the future we might live in a state of unsettledness forever.  Like the ocean, weather at the surface is much more difficult to predict.  Scowls erupt out of nowhere, and ships on the surface become victims of the waves.  But at great depths the storms are faintly recognized.

There is a depth at which our souls can find secure anchor.  A place where the fierce tides can’t rip us from the calm harbor.  When faith can find a moment to listen, we see through the mist that someone comes, walking on the water and bellowing, “Don’t be afraid!  It’s just Me.”

This Sunday I want to talk about where we can find a place to anchor in the storm.  My intention is to point in the direction of hope.  Not hope as in wishing something would be true. But hope as in confidence that in the most confusing times, God shows up with some good news.

We are going to read passages from one of the most misunderstood and mysterious books in the Bible.  Behind the picturesque symbols and dramatic images of Revelation is where we find out how deep the assurances of God can go.  John uses larger than life language to point in a direction in which we can begin to know what to expect next and to rest assured that all things are in God’s hands.

Come this Sunday and let’s discover what Jesus says we can expect next.