For An Older Couple, Both Widowed

Genesis 2:18-23; Psalm 100;Colossians 3:12-17; John 15:9-12

The Bible contains many themes, but two of them that pervade both the Old and New Testaments are memory and hope. The Israelites were constantly reminded by their leaders and their religious rituals to keep uppermost in their minds the fact that God had saved them, had made them a nation, had bestowed on them through Abraham and Sarah a special covenantal love. This memory was recalled time and time again as Israel wandered through the centuries, as a way of calling a people back into that special relationship with God.

But they were not allowed to remain comfortable with memory alone. In fact, the prophets recalled these memories specially to engender hope that the nation could once again know th…