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Praise God!

Hope’s four campuses were blessed with a total of 27,906 people worshipping together at the Christmas Eve Candlelight and Christmas Day services. That is up from 19,987 in 2010. Please celebrate the work God is doing through you to make heaven more crowded.
- Hope West Des Moines: 26,003

- Hope Ankeny: 1,135

- Hope Des Moines: 241

- Hope Johnson-Grimes: 521

- Online: 831 unique viewers watched an average of 70 minutes. That represents four continents, six countries, 27 states and 286 cities.

- Cookies. 940 dozen cookies were served at all these services.

A big THANK YOU to the hundreds of volunteers who donated cookies, ushered, greeted, sang, played music or served in other ways at Hope over the holiday weekends.

by Suzanne Behnke
Communications editor

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again — rejoice!”
Phillipians 4:4

God regularly delivers lessons on staying joyful amid all circumstances through an unlikely messenger: my dog.

Bruiser is my 100-pound black Labrador-retriever mix, and he fully understands joy.

We are morning walking buddies. When the sun peeks over the horizon, he knows that we’ll soon hit the neighborhood and make our way to the nearby recreational trail and park.

On the two short blocks to the trail, he anticipates the clip
coming off his collar and stamps his front paws back and forth in eagerness.

Once we get to the trail and open grassy area, he’s free – watch out! He takes off at a gallop to sniff trees and bushes, and sneak up on squirrels and rabbits. He bounds. He jumps (not on people). He races after shadows and noises. He sprints ahead of me and always jogs back for a friendly pat on the head.

But the real lesson comes from watching Bruiser roll around in the grass. He’ll search out the ideal patch of grass. He slumps shoulder-first into the grass and wiggles back and forth, back and forth, on the ground. His tongue hangs out. His eyes wild with freedom. For a brief moment, he will pause and gaze up at the sky with all four paws in the air. It’s as if he’s saying, It doesn’t get much better than this. He does this routine nearly every day, rain or shine. When snow is on the ground, he resembles a chocolate doughnut covered in powdered sugar.

Bruiser has a pretty good life – he’s fed, watered, loved and walked every day. But he is a dog we adopted from the rescue league, which means
someone he loved gave him up. He’s a little anxious if he’s left alone too long or with a dog sitter. (Who knew a dog could EAT his way out of a metal kennel?) He’s got some “emotional baggage” -  if that can be applied to an animal. Yet he relishes the small things or moments in life, like roaming and running and rolling.

We live pretty good lives, too, with very few of us worrying (or really needing to worry) about food, water, love or companionship. But it’s
so easy to get mired in what we don’t have or thoughts of what we’d like life to include. I’m not saying that there aren’t real struggles in this world. There are hundreds — but they exist on this side of heaven alone.

The Christmas Eve Candlelight Services ended with an energetic and beautiful song, “Joy to the World,” sung by John Cheatem and other
Hope musicians and vocalists. It was awesome!

I am blessed enough to get a reminder of that hymn’s message through my pet – that there is the promise of a Savior and his love no matter
what life is dishing up. I hope we all can find that roll-in-the-grass wild joy.

Merry belated Christmas! And joy to you and your dogs!

by Pastor Nicole Woodley

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you have had or will have the chance to celebrate with friends, family and loved ones the birth of Jesus! The Christmas Eve services focused on the birth story of Jesus as told by Luke. But wait!  Just because we do all this celebrating Saturday doesn’t mean we cancel our Sunday worship services! Christmas Day will bring another opportunity to worship.

On Christmas Day we will gather again to worship, this time hearing the birth story as told by Matthew. Luke tells Jesus’ birth story focusing in on Mary’s experience. Matthew, on the other hand. tells the story from the man of the family’s point of view: Joseph. From Matthew’s perspective, IT’S ALL ABOUT A NAME!!

In our day, names can mean a lot of things, they can be significant or insignificant. Think about your name and where it comes from: Is there a story behind it? Do you know what it means or why you have the name you have?

In the West, we name our children because the name sounds nice, or because the name holds certain sentimental value to us. This was not the way names are used in the East. Easterners attach a much greater significance to names. The fact that the Hebrew word shem and the Greek word onoma – both of which mean “name”– appear over 1,000 times in the Bible should give us an indication of the significance of a name.

To the Hebrews, a name was not a label, or a tool to distinguish one person from another; a person’s name was viewed as equivalent to the person himself. A person’s name signified his or her person, worth, character, reputation, authority, will, and ownership.

The gospel of Matthew begins with a list of a WHOLE lot of names! Matthew launches right into a list of the descendants of Jesus, ending with Joseph, the main character in the Matthew’s rendition of the birth story. If we pay close enough attention to that long list of names (that we can easily skim as boring, unimportant and hard to pronounce), it becomes clear that Jesus comes from interesting stock to say the least!  Matthew includes some pretty racy characters in Jesus’ lineage; Tamar (a lying seductress), Rahab (a prostitute), and Uriah’s wife (whose husband our hero king David kills in order to obtain her). All of which invoke stories with edge, scandel and cause us to squirm in our seats!

Yet, the angel appears to Joseph, instructing a man of racy lineage, to embrace his own scandalous situation (being engaged to a pregnant woman) as the way in which God will save his people from their sins. The angel says “Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to GIVE HIM THE NAME JESUS.” The Messiah, the king of the world, show up this Christmas as a baby with strange lineage, given a name that redeems even the most rotten stock.

This Christmas, when we try to make everything, including family gatherings, gifts and lights on our house, present a picture of a beautifully neat life. Jesus arrives with a name that invokes a more messy picture of the life he came to redeem. This Christmas, may you embrace Jesus, the name above all names as the one who can redeem even you, name you his child and send youout to tell the world this remarkable story!

Merry Christmas!

by Caroline Boehnke-Becker
Teaching pastor

If you travel the way I do – detailed itinerary in hand, packing list checked off, reservations booked weeks in advance – the idea of a trip without knowing the destination or what you will encounter along the way doesn’t sound like much fun.

Yet, our journey in life is a lot like that unplanned trip. We try to fool ourselves into thinking we know our destination and the route we’ll take, but we all experience unexpected detours, lose our way or even crash. Often those experiences become even more haunting during the holidays when we’re “supposed” to have a holly, jolly Christmas regardless of the realities in our lives.

Have you ever wondered where God wandered off to when you lost your way or crashed?

This weekend, the adult Praise! Choir and Hope Orchestra will present the Cantata, “There Is a Bethlehem.” In it, we will follow Mary and Joseph as they journey to Bethlehem, listening to how they dealt with both the smooth stretches of the road as well as those stretches filled with deep potholes. Learning how Mary and Joseph traveled will teach us how we can also travel this road called life.

And you don’t have to pack a thing; we have already reserved a seat for you!

by Mark Brandt
Minister of Children and Students

Elvis has left the building …

What an amazing weekend! “Bethlehem Rock” (the Children’s Christmas program) was a huge success, and God was glorified through it all. What better way to be reminded of the joys of Christmas than through the lives of the kids!

I am so proud of all of them and thank them for all the hard work they went through to memorize their lines, songs and awesome dance moves. I’m all shook up!

And a big thank you needs to go out to the team of staff and volunteers that worked tirelessly behind the scenes to create the set, make the costumes, coach the kids, record the songs, write the lyrics and organize the production that we were so blessed to watch.

If you missed it, I highly recommend getting a copy of the DVD. Sign up here. They will be flying off the shelves, I am sure!

I had the unique privilege to play with the band for the program. Other than the bass player and me, all band members were high school students who volunteered to lead. They were amazing to work with! And I humbly offer that they sounded equally amazing!

It is a pleasure to work with students who even at their age are servant-hearted and exhibit such joy when given the chance to sing for God.

If we learn nothing else from this past weekend, it should be that praising God doesn’t always have to come from adults. The students at HOPE aren’t the church of tomorrow … They are God’s hands and feet today! Praise God for that!

by Mike Housholder
Senior pastor

There are three sets of stories in the Bible that tell of God’s people preparing for the arrival of Jesus. Two of them get the most attention:

First, the Old Testament prophets, and the angels of the New Testament, provide a vision to help prepare the world for the birth of a baby
who would also be their Savior. We celebrate this incarnation of God every Christmas.

Second, there are the words of the New Testament prophets, including Jesus himself, promising his return – the second coming – to usher in
the Kingdom of God in a final and complete way: the end of the world as we know it. Much of the church’s energy and attention has been given to this topic over the years.

The third, more overlooked, set of biblical stories of preparation for Jesus’ arrival takes place early in the Gospels, and focuses on a prophet named John. He boldly proclaimed repentance with an edgy style in order to get people ready for the arrival of an “all grown up” Jesus, who was about to begin his three-year tour of Palestine on the way to a cross and empty tomb. God-sized miracles and healings were about to happen. The world was about to change, forever. And John wanted everyone to be prepared … including you.

In the timelessness of God’s living word, these same words of preparation to meet Jesus will be shared with you this weekend at Hope. I’ll
be preaching a sermon called “Prepare the Way” at all services, complete with an invitation from God to you that could change everything in your life.

Bring a Bible and a few friends – ready or not, here He comes!

In Christ’s Love,
Mike Housholder

P.S. I’m also looking forward to announcing the total gifts for the “Building Hope 4 the World” campaign during my sermons this weekend.
All I can tell you for now is that it’s going to be “hilarious” in a 2 Corinthians 9:7 sort of way!

by Caroline Boehnke-Becker
Teaching pastor

So the question was “How in the world did Mary give birth in a barn?” Beyond the obvious answer (um … the usual way?) this obstetrician cum Bible student has always been intrigued by this story from an angle that most people don’t entertain.

Too often people picture Mary arriving in Bethlehem, panting and blowing because she’s about to deliver on the donkey itself – I mean, we’ve
all heard of women delivering in the car on the way to the hospital, haven’t we? Poor Joseph scrambles to find a place for Mary and then stands helplessly beside her as she pushes the baby out without anyone else around.

Fortunately, for Mary at least, this is a most unlikely scenario.

Read Luke 2:6 closely: “While they were there …” Throughout history, societies have recognized the ideal place to deliver is where you are currently living. Modern obstetricians counsel their patients to avoid traveling once they’re in the 36-37 week range. Certainly Mary received the same advice; she and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem far enough in advance of her delivery that they could get situated in their new location. So Joseph wasn’t galloping the exhausted donkey into town while Mary moaned, “I have to push!”

And poor Joseph wasn’t standing wondering what to do – in fact, he was probably hustled out of the house by the village midwife and
female relatives when Mary went into labor – Middle Eastern social practices frown on women having men deliver babies, even if they are the woman’s husband. And throughout the ages, women have not delivered babies in isolation, but with family and experienced birth attendants surrounding them.

How do I know that?

About 15 years ago, I was paged in the middle of the night by a seasoned labor and delivery nurse begging me to come in and deliver a patient who wasn’t mine. A couple from Ames had arrived in the ER – they were both intelligent, articulate grad students at Iowa State who hailed from the Middle East. This was their third baby, and they received excellent prenatal care. But when the mother went into labor and the couple discovered the doctor on call was male, they came to Des Moines searching for a female physician; their cultural mores demanded it. And the couple was prepared to leave and go to another hospital to find a female physician, despite the fact she was already 5-6 cm dilated. Let’s just say I delivered a beautiful baby less than 5 minutes after I hustled to the hospital, receiving the immense gratitude of both the patient and her husband.

Mary and Joseph, fully embedded in their Middle Eastern culture, surrounded by supportive family, welcomed their baby boy into the world in the same way untold numbers of couples have welcomed their baby into the world.

Does this diminish the Christmas story?  No, it actually enhances it when we realize God chose to be born under the same normal, mundane, profound circumstances under which we all came into the world.  A God who surprisingly chooses to identify himself that closely with his creation is surely a God who bears watching to see what else he may be up to!