A final thought about verbs. We have been looking at seven in the book of Philippians – there are lots more we could have chosen but these seemed pertinent to building community in our small gathering of Jesus followers.

And the final three are hoping, knowing, and shining. Along the way we’ve looked at thinking, cooperating, honouring, and trusting.

Christian hope is about being in a renewed creation with a raised and perfect body where there’s no injustice, poverty, war, suffering, only shalom, where all are welcome and united community. This is what Paul points to at the end of Philippians 3.

It is quite difficult to conceive of life without hope – small hopes for the day, larger hopes for relationships and projects – but Paul’s argument is that the hope we have in Jesus animates our life in the here and now in a way that energises us to press on in living for the things that will be true of us and creation in the future. We work for justice, and sharing, and peace, to offer welcome to everyone because this is the world we are heading for.

This is what Paul means when he says we should shine like stars in the midst of neighbours who don’t know where the world is heading, who think life is just about feeding the belly and satisfying the self, a life bent out of shape by selfish desire, what the bible labels sin (Philippians 2:15). God knows these things are making the world a challenging place at the moment.

We know this because as we get to know Jesus he helps us to see what life is about and he shines light on the text of the bible that helps us to meet and get to know God better, get to know what God thinks about the world and our lives in it.

Our hope and what we know is inevitably visible. If we have connected with the risen Jesus, if we are living by his values for his future, people will see it. We shine in simple daily acts of kindness and welcome offered to strangers and those on the edge. We shine together as a church doing good things in and with our communities, things that point to Jesus and his coming kingdom. 

Jesus said the good things we do are a light that shines and illuminates God’s coming kingdom and Paul says that it’s what we are made for (Eph 2:10). The point is that people see how we live and especially how we treat them and it starts a conversation and who knows where that will lead. 

So, three verbs about being a Jesus follower that land in the way we live our everyday lives, that are learned as we gather and reinforced by our encouragement of one another, and that point our neighbours to a destiny better than the one they construct from the news headlines..