Turning 40

Birthdays. They record the passing of one’s years. More importantly, they record the personal growth, lessons, triumphs, failures, joys, and sorrows of those years.
The same is true in the life of a church.
For forty years, New Hope Baptist Church has stood as a light in a dark world offering, to all who are seeking, a new hope. . .a hope based on the unchanging promises of unchanging God.
Yesterday, our church family gathered to rejoice in and give thanks for that precious hope and for forty years of spreading that hope. Sweet memories were shared of new beginnings, of growing and building, of stretching and reaching, of learning and teaching, of struggles and victories, of laughter and loss.
We sang praises together, and we prayed together, and, of course, we ate together afterwards because that’s the custom. That’s the tradition. That’s the unbreakable RULE.
Our festivities yesterday were a time of looking back and giving thanks, but also a time of looking ahead and asking for wisdom to meet new challenges, new difficulties, new opportunities.
May “the Hope on the Hill” continue to be a beacon of God’s love, mercy, and grace in the days and years to come.
May those who come behind us find us faithful.

By Julie Kirk