A People of Expectation
Rhona Cathcart
June 23, 2023
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Ephesians 3:20 (NRSVA)
20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,
Family stories suggest that “There’s no such thing as can’t” was one of my father’s favourite phrases. Whether or not this is true, he certainly packed a lot into his 42 years of life, including having the courage and imagination to head to a new country with two small daughters, and a pregnant wife. Shortly before his untimely death he was even considering relocating the family (now numbering five daughters) to the north of Canada and setting us all on a new adventure as he tried his hand as a flying doctor.
My dad was someone, I think, who expected life to be interesting and full of adventure, and who was willing to lean into those expectations. As a cancer specialist he was well aware of the reality of pain and of fear of the future. Nevertheless, one of his gifts was the ability to instil in others some of his own confidence and hope, most crucially in the patients he was treating.
In this week’s passage, Paul shares his confidence in a God who is “abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine”. If that is what God is really like, are we too limited in our expectations?
PRAYER:
Lord God
When did we start putting limits on what you can and can’t do?
How is that we have lost confidence in miracles?
Life is hard, yes.
Things don’t always work out as we would wish.
But our difficulties or struggles are not the whole story. There is more. You offer more.
Teach us to live as people who expect more —
from and through our faith.
More hope, more love, more adventure,
More life in all its fullness.
Amen
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