01-20-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
January 20 2024
During a time of difficulty, the prophet Jeremiah announced the words of God as he had perceived them. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (29:11). A friend of mine in college had a saying taped to his wall that I have since seen numerous times. It read, “I do not know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.” Though some might take those words to mean that God controls all things, I believe they signify how God is always calling and luring us into the future God wishes for us. Though it may take many lifetimes for God to bring the world only slightly closer to the divine hope, God is patient, always holding that vision of a future made whole by redemptive love.  

Continue to dangle your future hope before us, O God of Love, so we might reach for it, and by doing so, bring the world just a bit closer to the realization of that future. Amen.