Faith & Insight: Our best days are still ahead

Hello neighbors! This is my first article in this rotating column, so I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Ian Hodge, and for the last eight months I’ve been the pastor of First Presbyterian Church right in the middle of downtown Carson City.

It has been such a privilege for me, my wife, and my four children to get to know and serve the members of this church, and to learn more about the community of Carson City. What a beautiful, incredible place this is, with a strong community spirit and sense of self.

I don’t intend to speak at length about the church I serve, but please indulge me just for a moment longer. Part of the FPC facility is our original sanctuary, which is the oldest existing sanctuary in Nevada.

The history of the church dwarfs my own, and at times that history hangs as a challenge – what could my role possibly be in light of the long history of our church? How arrogant would I be to believe that I could add something to that history?

Many of us are asking questions in a similar vein in these days. What could my role be in this world where the currents of events are so deep and powerful? Can my life be defined by anything more than the power of the forces surrounding me? Can I hope for a better world than the failed promises of the past and the waiting-to-be-broken new promises handed out like candy every day?

I remain convinced that we can still say confidently that our best days are still ahead of us. I draw your attention to two things in support of this belief: first, the greatest influences in your own life; secondly, the power of God.

I invite you to look back on your own life. Who has most profoundly shaped you, for good or bad? What moments do you look back upon as foundational in changing or confirming the direction of your life?

Although I owe much to authors I respect and admire, and am undeniably shaped by the environment I live in, the most important influences for good in my life have been undeniably every day and common; parents, teachers, friends…

In short, the most important influences in my life have been the people who loved me. Writing to a culture that expected obedience from children to parents, the Apostle Paul instructed the Colossian fathers, “do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.” (3:21) Do you want to see a better world? Do you want to nudge the deep, powerful river in a new course? Love; love your children; love your neighbors; love the strangers. Love everyone.

Second and finally, the very fact that love works so powerfully in our world is evidence that there is more to it than atoms and molecules. The essence of love cannot be defined merely by reference to our five senses, showing us that the universe is deeper than any telescope could discover.

Nowhere is that love more powerfully on display than in the Christian story of the death and resurrection of Jesus – how a good God loves the least deserving to death; not theirs, but his. The Bible again speaks in Romans 8:32, “He who did not withhold his own son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”

Our best days are always still ahead of us because God loves us without measure and without limit. Impact others and be impacted by God’s love.

Ian Hodge is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Carson City.