On the morning of May
25th, 2000, I was sitting in my brother’s backyard in Chicago
drinking way too much coffee and nervously waiting for inspiration. Months
before I promised my dad I’d write a song for my grandmother’s memorial
service. At that point all I had was “I hope” which was how Grandma Heinze
described faith in Jesus. Not “I hope” as in “I wish” but “I hope” as
in “I know.” So with grandma’s faith in Jesus on my mind I waited
impatiently for a song that was scheduled to be sung that afternoon. And then I
remembered a funeral the week before where I spoke the words of Psalm 118.
“There are shouts of exaltation in the tents of the righteous for the strong
arm of the Lord has triumphed" and within ten minutes I had three verses
and a chorus in the key of E and a few hours later “Our Hope” was sung as
promised. Of all the parts of the funeral liturgy Psalm 118, appointed to be
read at the graveside, seems to fly in the face of reason. When it is obvious
that our loved one has fallen and is not getting up again we claim that “I
shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” But that is the way
of faith where the stone the builders rejected becomes the cornerstone of “I
hope.” Defeat is victory, loss is gain, and sorrow is the prelude to joy. While
it seems like the truth of “I hope” comes to us as suddenly as it did to me in
my brother’s backyard the truth is the only thing sudden about it is that it is
the end of waiting. It took Martha sometime to learn the song of Jesus but when
she did she sang it with everything she had for her best friend, Jesus. And so
like Timothy whose faith first lived in his grandmother Lois the faith of
Martha is sung every Easter at Calvary Lutheran Church, Richland Hills, TX in
three verses and a chorus in the key of E.
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